My Little Pony:Through the eyes of a Changling
by Xulkandor
Summary: After their humiliating defeat at the wedding of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. A young Changeling comes up with a new approach on how to best handle the next invasion of Equestria.
1. Chapter 1

Hello all, my name is Xul and I have been a fan of the My little pony FIM series since it first began. After seeing the two part wedding episode I got the inspiration to write this multi-part fanfic. This takes place after the said episode of course in a semi-continuation. I hope you all enjoy it and place….be gentle with me. I suck at grammar I know but I will try to get better.

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….What?

….Why?

-How?...

Yes, How? That is the word. That is the word that was just right for what was going on, but at this moment it just felt empty, it just wasn't strong enough. It truly didn't really describe the confusion that was now thick in the air. There was various sentences structured around that very word at this time but thee only one that seemed to be used the most as well as accepted was the one that needed to be answered the most.

How could this have happened?

It was the question that that was on everyone's lips and snaked through everyone's thoughts. Everything had gone so perfect. It was truly fool proof. The successfully infiltrated and manage to hide themselves in Equestria without a single pony ever catching on until it was too late. The subterfuge and manipulation of the entre wedding went according to plan….well sure there were a couple of hiccups but they were quickly and efficiently dealt with. Even the ponies' so called "great" princess Celestia fell before the might of their great queen Chrysalis. The entire royal city of Canterlot was under their complete control.

So How…How could they be defeated so completely but a bunch of pathetic love ridden PONIES? No….no this wasn't going to stand. They were Changelings, the masters of espionage and subterfuge. They have never ever been defeated before. All over the world, no matter where they went, it has always been the same, ALWAYS. They infiltrate and then they dominate and then they gurgitate on the delicious delicacy that was called love.

Now it was different, now the entire changeling race were back in a network of caves that made into a temporary home, licking their wounds and with wounded pride they all bickered amongst themselves in attempt to get answers and avoid blame. This was a complete victory and no one wanted to be the victim of the queen's wrath.

"HA HA HA HA…..WHAT A SORRY BUNCH OF LOOSERS YOU ALL TURNED OUT TO BE!"

Even though the caves were filled with Changelings arguing the laughter managed to pierce through the bickering enough for those nearby to turn to see who would dare laugh at them. As a result of the echoes that carried the near shrieking laughter throughout the caves even Changelings from other parts of the network flew over to see what was going on.

The typical changeling looked similar to the ponies of in Equestria at least in outline that they were all black with a dark blue beetle like shell on the back as well rather large fangs. They had insectoid wings that were used for flying and each was equipped with a small horn on their head, which much like the unicorn ponies they would use to work their disguises as well as other magic. Each one had holes in their body primarily in their legs but it did nothing to hinder their mobility of any kind, but the one feature that stands out was their eyes they were large blue orbs with an almost distilled circle of light that made up the iris. Simply put they looked like a combination of pony and insect.

However, the cackling Changeling was slightly different from the majority. It was a young boy who was quite a bit smaller than his peers but his most unique feature was that instead of having blue orbs for eyes like the others he had green ones. At his current age he was the changeling's equivalent of ponies that were still blank slates and have yet to gain their cutie marks or ones who just come into their marks. For the changelings it was the color of their eyes that signified their life cycle. When they are babies their orbs are red when they are merely cubs they are green, it is own when they are full grown adults is when their eyes finally turn blue. The only exception to this was the Queen herself.

"Oh man…." The young changelings began finally calmly down from his private joke. "I can't believe you all got whopped by a bunch of ponies. I mean Canterlot was basically handed to you and you all STILL manage to screw up. I mean if….."

"SILENCE CUB!" One of the adult changelings decided to step up and cut this mere pup off. It was bad enough to come home in such a shameful defeat that came after obtaining victory but they would be damn if they were going to listen to this youth rubbing their noses in it. "You are nothing more than a mere cub and we will not be mocked by the likes of one who haven't even fully mature. You were not even there."

The emerald eyed changeling sat there listening to the ramblings of his so called superior. While he wasn't vocal with laughter as before, the amusement on his face didn't change…in fact if anything the smile was getting bigger. "Oh please. What an excuse to fall back on. You all may not have taken me along because you all thought I was "too young" but look where that got you."

The young Changeling stood up and puffs out his tiny chest clearly showing signs of confidence. "The fact is that if I was there we would still be In control."…Or maybe it was just plain arrogance.

If one would pay attention carefully they could actually hear some of the adult changelings' jaw drop to the ground. That statement was an attack on so many levels. This mere child was proclaiming that he would have made sure their victory would have been assured? They didn't know if this was ego or just plain stupidity but the most disarming part about the whole thing was that this young cub seemed to actually believe his own hype.

"Oh really? And how would a brat like you turn the tide to assured our victory? You are just a kid no bigger than their own pony children."

"HA!" The child scoffed at one of the adults to attempt to bounce back from their humiliation. "I may not be an adult yet but have you forgotten I am the fastest Changeling around? There is no pony on land or in the air that can move at my speed. I would have quickly zoomed and woodshed and stopped the ponies before they did….whatever it is they did."

"Oh yeah? You may be fast but you are still a child and a child STILL has the strength of one."

The smile that the young cub presented grew into a fanged grin with his body language was now showing signs of pride as well as arrogance. "Ha everyone knows that even the lowliest Changeling can easily…EASILY overpower even the toughest Pony!"

With that one statement it seemed that the changelings around were buzzing in agreement perhaps the first time since the came back from their failed invasion. Despite everything it was good to feel a little pride after such a crushing lost and even though most of the adults still didn't like this cub's attitude at least he finally said something they call could agree on. However, the buzzing was short lived at the cub put his hoof out to let them know he still had more to say.

"Look the fact of the matter is that you all still lost and with the rumor saying of the method in which you lost was to a power fueled by love which by the way I find funny because it is the very thing we feed on I can only think that it is either one or two things. One: their love was too powerful for you or Two: They have a secret we don't know about….yet."

"Oh is that so?" One of the adults snaked their way out from the sea of Changeling and darkness and slowly moved their way to the child. This one was a bit different than the others as well for he had a crossed shaped scar just above his nose. The movement in his steps seemed to indicate something that was significant in their society...a challenge. "Well you may have the body of a child but your ego is sure the size of a dragon. Why don't walk the walk….instead of just talking."

The greened eyed boy's smiled turned into a caution frowned. His once great look of pride and arrogance was transformed into one of frustration and annoyance. Someone was actually challenging him on his taunting he didn't really expect but to actually hear the snickering and hissing from the rest of the adults was too much. There was just no way he was going to let that go….with a hiss he opened his mouth to make a retort but was quickly stopped but a chuckle.

"My….My….My, now this is quite interesting."

All throughout the network of caves was the echoing of a universal gasp from the changeling race that was quickly followed by silence. Every inhabitant within the area quickly took to a knee and lowered their heads, even the spiteful youth for even he knew his place. Their great and powerful queen graced them with her presence. Her looks was like a pony with a twisted unicorn horn, a pair of insect like wings that was larger than the typical changeling and stands as tall as Princess Celestia herself. One thing that set her apart from the rest of her people was her eyes. They were most like a pony's except hers were green and snake like.

"Hummm." The queen gave purred in a rather smooth but slightly buzzing voice as her jade orbs surveyed the situation. The truth was that she was listening to this….debate for quite some time and found it rather amusing that one the cubs would actually leave the raising pits to address her adult subject in such a fashion. It was a shame that all good things must come to an end however, things were escalating to the point where she had to step in. "I am curious to know what has caused such a commotion in this section of our homes?"

One of the adult changelings quickly stepped up to answer her grace. "Your highness, this pup dares to mock our defeat at the hands of those soft ponies. He has spat on your great plan and your effects…he"

"THAT IS NO TRUE!" The youth firmly yelled to make sure that the echoes of the cave drowned out the outrageous actuation that his so called *superior* made. "That is a likely story. The queen did all the work and handed you victory. You old timers are the ones who messed it up."

The adult quickly turned too hissed at the child. "What was that you brat?"

The boy ignored the hissing of the adult and quickly stepped forward past him towards the queen. "Great Queen Chrysalis, I maybe just a kid but I still know how to listen. I heard your plan when you were preparing it; from the talk going around it sounds like your part was executed flawlessly and you gain control of Canterlot single handedly. All they needed to do was keep the line and feed, simple right?"

The caves have off the echo of hissing and buzzing, the rest of the changeling populous had just about enough of this kid and was fully prepared to teach him a lesson. The only thing that kept them in place was the gaze of the queen, a gaze that was more terrifying than anything else in the known world.

"All I am saying My Queen is that these over the hill adults made you do all of the work. What you need is a new generation of Changeling fighters who will take the initiative for you. Not hide behind you, making you do all the work while they reap the benefits."

The queen let out an amusing chuckle with the rest of her subjects gave low hisses. She calmly moved around this youngling getting a grasp of what he was all about. To think that one so young would actually come out and speak his mind to those who were supposed to be his superiors. A child who still didn't fully understand what it is to be a Changeling was proclaiming he could do better than his betters.

"Ah the wonders of the young and ambiguous. It is absolutely delicious." The Queen purred as she place her hoof under the child chin and gently raise his head so that their eyes would meet. "So tell me clever child. What would you suggest for us to bounce back from this defeat?"

The child looked at the queen at first in awe. It was just so hard to imagine that his great queen would actually take the time to not only address him personally but she was actually touching him, although he did have a bit of a mental gun because he could just feel all the jealous eyes upon him. "Well my queen, Considering what happened and they are probably more prepared for a frontal assault I think we should go and do what Changelings to best…..infiltrate. What I think what we need to do is pick one of the towns of Equestria for study. These ponies were underestimated and I think we need to find out the true source of their power and find a while to break it once and for all. A single changeling can pose as one of them and gather information to send back to the hive. Then when we are ready to invade again we will be prepared for whatever they those at us."

"Very interesting…..a simple but interesting plan young one." The queen calmly places her hoof back upon the ground and walked a bit. It seemed that she was contemplating the plan. It was a sound one and the truth was that a good percentage of her followers were still weak from being repelled so it was clear that they weren't going anywhere anytime soon. Not to mention, she would like some answers, that power that caused their defeat…that cursed shield that was brought on by those pathetic ponies, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence being fueled by love was ridiculous. There had to be more too it, love was their food and food doesn't bite back. Perhaps this child was on to something. "Since you are so eager to prove yourself, does this mean that you volunteer to execute this plan?"

"You majesty!" The same adult Changeling that was getting into the youngling's face stepped up quickly to intervene before the child could give his answer. "Even if it is a sound plan, you can't entrust it to a youngling. Beyond the ability to shape shift his magic hasn't fully develop."

"Hey!" The young one quickly retorted. "All I need is to change. I may not have much magic but I am the fastest changeling around, which mean I can our fly any dumb pony. Besides, you HAD your change…it's time to let the new generation handle this. My Queen, give me the chance to prove myself. I may not be an adult but I am brave like one. I WON'T let you down."

The boasting changeling stood with pride under the Queen's gaze. He needed to show her that even though he was young he was up to such an important task. He wasn't able to join the invasion of Canterlot because they deemed him too young but like the other younglings he was restless and didn't like to be left behind but unlike the rest of his young brood he was going to finally do something about it. He just needed a chance…just one chance to prove that he can succeed what the rest of them have failed to do. There was nothing he wasn't ready to do for his Queen and he was more than ready to prove it.

With a small chuckle the Queen looked down at her young subject and spoke. "Very well child. You have my approval to carry out this plan."

"Your Highness….." The scared Changeling injected. "Ignoring the fact that he is just a child who hasn't even come into his magic abilities, he doesn't even know any pony disguises."

The queen calmly looked at the X marked Changeling with indifferent eyes. No, that wasn't quite right; there was the slightest hint of impatience within them. "Then provide him with a base to use."

The Changeling hissed under his breath but did what he was told. He wouldn't dare disobey even if it meant saving his own life. He calmly closed his eyes and after a few moments the twisted horn on his head turned green and proceeded to perform its magic as the once scared changeling quickly warped into a pony in order to give the youngling as an example.

"Now do you understand?" The queen began as she walked over towards her transformed minion looking at him but was clearly speaking to the cub. "I am allowing his plan because the clan needs time to recover after that humiliating defeat. Despite our best efforts we lost…..lost so completely…..perhaps it is time for a fresh perspective…to know our enemy."

The queen looked away from the scarred changeling and then proceeded to look at the young male who was studying the pony base form that was presented to him. She watched as the youngling nodded and then proceeded to close his eyes and followed suit in the process of transformation. It took him a bit longer to undergo the process but in the end the young one did transformed. She gave a small purr as she looked at the now transformed "pony" child before her. He was a tall as any of the pony children who were known to have blank slates or ones who just came into their kiddy marks. The "Pony" that was before her was a Pegasus that was the color of dark chrisom with a raven colored mane and tail. His eyes were golden brown, the most interesting feature about his form was the wings, instead of being the color of his body they were the color of his mane: Black. There was no cutie mark on his person but that was to be expected considering the age he was in both in this form and his real form.

"Ah interesting…You can actually past as one of those insufferable ponies."

The chrisom pony puffed out his chest and smiled, proud that he received such praise from the queen. He saw out of the corner of his eye the one adult changeling turn back into his true form and huffed. Feeling a bit deviant, he quickly stuck out his tongue and gave a 'pppphhhfffftttt' when the Queen turned her back towards them for a moment. Of course this causes the scared one to hiss but unable to do anything when their great leader addressed them again.

"Follow me child." Queen Chrysalis spoke with firm calmness as she began to walk through the caves with her "pony" champion following close behind. The changeling brood all parted like the red sea to allow her room to move, all the while hissing at the upstart who not only mocked but gain the Queen's favor on top of everything. Of course that didn't stop the brat to give a big toothy yet cute pony grin at them.

It wasn't before long in which they reached the outside of the caves. The Dark Queen turned to address her young minion one more time. Who in turn stood at attention, very interested to hear what she had to say to him.

"Listen to me and listen to be very carefully. The only reason I am allowing you to do this is because you made such an impression back. It is quite rare for a youngling who wants to rise above his status quickly. That combine with the fact that our focus need time to recover."

"Yes my Queen." The Red "pony" said firmly in complete understanding. It seemed like his risky taunts were actually paying off.

"However…."

The child blinked with a hunt of confusion that was followed but a look of sheer terror. The Queen that was once showering with praise was now bearing down on him like a Lion looking at its prey just before the final kill. The green flames of her magic forming around her as if waiting for the signal to turn this young cub into a crisp.

"Failure will NOT be tolerated. Don't think for one second that just before you are a child that I won't punish you like any other failure under my command, especially after all that boasting you did earlier. Normally I enjoy kicking people when their down but it was also MY DEFEAT AS WELL!"

It was at that moment that it dawn on him. She chose him not just because of all his random boating; this was his trial as well as his punishment. He should have known it was strange for the queen to give one so young a change at such an important assignment even if he did come up with it. This was a Trial/Punishment. She was basically saying: *Do you think you can do better than your QUEEN? Prove It.* He should have known something was wrong when she mentioned that she was listening for some time. He quickly covered down and closed his eyes, the worst was coming and he just knew it.

"Stop sniveling child. If I was going to punish you now I would have done so."

The child raised himself up and took a sigh of relief as the Queen calmed down from her imposing form. But his spine still tingled when she still had those piercing eyes.

"But, make no mistake. There will be punishment if you fail to deliver me results. After our defeat at Canterlot, I have little patience for failure…..do I make myself clear?"

The young boy quickly nodded. He understood loud and clear, he always heard about Queen Chrysalis personal punishments and he didn't want to be on the receiving end of one. Even if he was still a child that wouldn't save him….no one escapes her wrath…no one.

"Good, now before you go….I shall provide you with a messaging tool. With this you will be able to send your reports to be directly. After all being a spy means nothing if you don't have some means to report back. "The queen's twisted horn glowed with that oh so familiar hue of green and with a few moments of concentration a black necklace with an emerald jewel in the middle appeared before them. With telekinesis the necklace was moved and placed around the young boy's neck. "Under no circumstances that you are to remove this. It will allow you to create and send messages to me. I expect at least one progress report every week. Do you understand?"

"Well….I…." The child was still shaken up by the Queen's change of demeanor, but he quickly regains himself when she began to show hints of annoyance over his inability to answer her right away. He quickly lowered his head and bowed firmly…partly because he didn't want to look up at her imposing visage any longer. "Yes My Queen. Your will be done."

"Excellent…" The Queen gave a wicked smile and turned to go back into the caves. "Don't disappoint me."

Once the Queen left his sight, the changeling turned pony plopped to the ground. His legs could no longer handle his weight due to the fear that lingered within. Channelings were not like the ponies, they were supposed to be tough at all times….be the bully or get bullied that was the way of things. But the Queen was another story entirely, it made sense that she would be the most feared but why would she be like that…all he wanted to do was to make her proud and even though he was given the change, she still went about terrifying him. His heart felt a bit heavy over the realization.

"No…no I can't let myself be deterred from my goal." The red pony stood up and looked at the guy firmly. She was just trying to toughen him up. Opening his black wings for the first time he got a feel for them and then took up into the air in search of a pony village he could infiltrate. "Yeah I am going to be in enemy territory and I needed to prepare for the worse. That's it what the Queen was doing. She was preparing me for the task at hand right?"

…right?

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Well that is the end of chapter one I hope you all enjoyed it. This chapter was actually going to be longer but I wanted you all to decide how I should continue it and the choice is thus.

Where should this young changeling go to?

Ponyville

Or an original pony town?

Leave your choices in the comments or message me. I am looking forward to the votes.

Once again thank you for reading.

Xul


	2. My name is?

Hey everyone Xul here.

First off, a big thank you to those who voted on where the location of the story should continue at. Since it was a tie I decided to flip a coin to break it. I hope the decision turned out to be the right one. Anyway, I won't distract you any longer. Here is chapter two.

Oh and please be gentle…

Disclaimer: I own nothing...well except the main character perhaps.

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"Yes….This place….looks….promising."

The youngling found himself draped over the branch of a tree panting furiously trying to get some well needed oxygen into his tiny little body. It was almost a pathetic sight really. It really wasn't that long ago that he was boasting of how superior he was to his adults counterparts and here he was hanging off the limb of a tree like a piece of cloth being hung out to dry.

But finally after what seemed like hours of flying around the land of Equestria. The young Changeling may have finally found a location that just might prove suitable for the task he "volunteered" for, and truthfully it wasn't a moment too soon. He might be a fast flyer and he never hesitated to brag about it to the adults but that didn't mean that he had the stamina of one. When he first arrived on the outskirts of the town he had no choice but to rest. He couldn't even keep up his red Pegasus disguise at the moment. Normally Changelings actually had to make an effort to reveal their true form or something had to disrupt the magic it's self in order to force them back but, being tried was also a factor if it was bad enough.

"Whelp, I think I have rested enough. It is time to learn and teach these weak ponies what happens when you mess with the Chan-" Gravity it self seemed to have had enough of the Young Changelings hollow bravado as the boy quickly found himself slipped off the branch and found himself landing on his back looking up at the partially cloudy sky.

"Ooohhhh…well I am off to a good start….."

The young male slowly rolled back to his hooves and proceeded to shake all the dirt and mud that might have smeared it's self on his person. Just because he suffered a little fall, didn't mean he was going to be deterred from his goal. The queen was counting on him….or rather forcing him to learn about these creatures and that is exactly what he was going to do, because the alternative of what will happen to him if he failed was going to be far worse than what the ponies would suffer when they invaded and he had no intention of letting that happen.

Once he was sure that his dark hide was presentable he lowered his head to concentrate. The signature green magic began to manifest from his small horn and in mere moments encased his tiny body. A few minutes later the transformation was complete, what was a peculiar pony/ insect hybrid was no a young red Pegasus pony with a semi unkempt ebony mane and matching wings. He walked round the tree and flapped his own feathered wings in order to get a feel for his new body. Changelings did have a habit of literally gaining the characteristics of the bodies they disguise themselves in. Even though all changelings do have some form of magic, if they put on the disguise of an earth pony for example with the exception of transformation the magic side of them was nullified, it was an odd weakness of the race but not a crippling one if chosen right.

This was the reason the youngling made sure to take on a Pegasus form. His magic was lacking at best with the exception of the signature disguise and his true strength was flying. However, despite his successful transformation he couldn't help but be a little bit annoyed of how long it took him to transform. Most of the adults could to the task in a split second if needed but it always took him a bit of time. It was one thing they had over him and he loathed to ever admit it.

The disguised changeling left the forest completely but made sure not to enter the town proper, instead moved throughout the edge of it. He went through great effort to make sure to avoid to be seen by the populous of this town or if somepony did catch a glimpse of him it wasn't a very long one. He couldn't afford to even try to blend in until he had some kind of approach. Which leaves the question of how to best proceed with his plan?

As the red Pegasus explored the down he couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy. This whole place was just so different from what he was used too. Ever since he could remember he lived in damp, darkness, caves, and underground tunnels. To stay in one place was just so alien to him. To go to an area and use up all natural resources and then move on, that was the natural order of things at least to him but these ponies were not only doing so but they seemed to be prosperous. If that wasn't bad enough this place seemed….happy…and colorful.

"Just what kind of bizarre world is this….ponyville?" The little one spoke in low breath as he continued to move and observe. Hearing a passing conversation between two ponies he was able to learn the name of this place. It wasn't Canterlot but that was a good thing after all, he needed to learn about these creatures away from the capital and a small area like this was perfect.

After some more time looking around he found himself looking upon a structure that he couldn't help but to be drawn too. It was place on the edge of the city but it didn't look like most of the other buildings around. It was shaped like a house but for some reason it just didn't seem to fit the bill. It was painted bright red with white lining. There were pink hearts placed just above the windows. The front of the weird structure had a pole with a flag waving and on top of the building was a large dark grey bell.

Curiosity began to grow inside him as he found himself slowly moving forward in order to take a closer look. Just above the main doors of this place was a sign with some writing on it. He narrowed his eyes in order to make out what it was saying.

"Skooooollllll Hoooussseeee"

He slowly purred each individual syllable like he was trying to get the complete meaning of the words just by saying them. He sat down a bit saying the two words several times trying in vain to get a feel for them or meaning. It just didn't make any sense to him, what exactly was a school house and what exactly do ponies do in there. As a matter of fact, why was this place painted in such a way, a lot of this ponyville was bright but this was just crazy.

Finding himself standing back up, he moved slowly over to the school house. He scoffed a bit as he placed his front hoof on the side of the building as if a mocking jester the whole structure just seemed like one big joke to him.

!

"SQUEE!" The red Pegasus found himself leaping in fear and his wings flapping in desperation. His body faltered in terror until he found himself on the roof of the school house. He couldn't believe what he just heard. That horrible piercing noise was still ringing in his ears. It was like the very building it's self was taking vengeance upon him for having dare mock it. His body was shaking, his chest was heaving, and his mane was standing on end. Was this the ponies' secret weapon?

Before he was able to move towards to bell to investigate, the sounds of the door opening below which was quickly followed by chatter quickly got his attention. Quick to lie down to make sure he wasn't spotted, he slowly creeps his way to the edge of the roof. Being careful not to expose himself to the little ones below, he watched to see small ponies leaving the bright red structure below him.

His eyes were scanning the pathetic ponies carefully. There were ones that seemed to catch his eye more than others. There were two ponies who seemed to be really close, one was tall with a light caramel coat with an a light green mane, while the other one was a small pudgy pony who's coat was turquoise with a dark brown mane, they both seemed to be unicorns and male. The interest in them left as quickly as it arrived, he could instantly tell that they weren't worth his time.

Continuing his observation he scan the yard to noticed one peculiar pony, this time it was clearly a female, One that had a light purple coat, With her mane being of a slightly darker shade than the rest of her. The only exception to the color was a white streak that ran through which seemed to accentuate her features. She walked with poised and elegance throughout the yard but always careful to keep her distance from the local rift raft.

"Wow…..she is cute…..for a pony" The young changeling couldn't but keep his eyes off of her. He watches her as she spoke to a dark grey pony with glasses. From the distance he couldn't really hear what they were talking about but that didn't keep him from looking on, but there was just one glaring omission that he couldn't help but to squint his eyes with confusion and that was the piece of jewelry that was placed on the purple one's head. He herd that these ponies has weird customs but besides from royalty why anyone would put jewelry on their head was a mystery to him. Come to think of it, this pony does seem to have a slight air of smugness about her….but then again that could be just him.

Remembering the task at hand, he shook his head quickly and continued to look around. He had to remember that these ponies were the enemy and was not to be befriended or admired in any way. As he continued to look on at the rest of them he noticed that they were all around the same age as him with that piece of information he would figure that this 'school' was made in similar as their pits. A place to stick their young ones away from the adults to learn what it means to be who they are only to leave when they came of age, but he was told that these ponies had families…..actual families. But, what was strange to him was than they wasn't leaving the school house completely…in fact they seemed to be playing, talking with each other, some were even reading. Perhaps they were on break?

"Hum….this might work to my advantage." A smirk began to form on the red Pegasus as a plan was brewing within his mind. This was lucky indeed, these pony children were sure to have information about their culture. Even if they were kids they must had herd their parents talking or even practicing their techniques of power. He might not even have to spend that much time in this Ponyville if he played his cards right. All he needed to do was get one of these kid ponies in an isolated situation and he would then be able to interrogate them for information. He should learn everything he need to in no time. "Yep I am a genius, now to find a sucker…."

The egger changeling scanned the yard carefully in order to find the proper mark. The longer he look the more frustrated he was starting to feel. These dang ponies all like to hobble together even the ones who were a bit isolated from the main body of bodies were still too close for comfort.

"Oh man…" The red pony began pout in annoyance. "Why won't they leave so I can capture them…?"

After lightly tapping his front hooves on the roof in a tiny hissy fit, his eyes actually caught something interesting. There was a pony that was far enough away that his plan might actually be able to be salvaged, in fact, there was three of them who were all playing with a large ball. He quietly moved away from the edge and instead went towards the side, he squinted his eyes to get a better look at his potential targets.

The first one he noticed was an earth pony light shade of beige with bright red hair with a huge pink bow which served to keep her hair in place, while the second one was pearl white with a mix color shades of purple making up her mane. The horn on her head gave the telling that she was a unicorn pony. The last one appeared to be more for a caramel color with purple hair, which wasn't as kept as the other two but in the end did it really matter? They had the perfect distance to be attack but the question was how to get them alone. They might be weak ponies but that didn't mean that numbers couldn't be a problem.

"How am I going to do this? They are-"

!

"I SAID I WAS SORRY!" The young Changeling once again gave a loud yelp as the oh too familiar but greatly more intense piercing sound rang through his whole body through his ears. He tried in a vain of attempt to cover his small ears with his hooves but the sudden and intensity of the ringing noise managed to cause him to lose his footing and fall off the roof with the bushes below breaking his fall.

The young ponies didn't seem to notice the torment of the body as they all caught the signal that recess was over and it was time to go back inside for the next lesson. Which was fine for the red Pegasus, he needed time to recover from that awful attack and the truth was that he didn't have the strength to even attempt an escape if he was caught. Right now he was content to remain in the bushes shaking his head to find some semblance of recovery from that ring assault. However, this also proved to be problematic because now he could hear all the Phillies and colts going back inside. His once cleaver plan was going up in smoke before it even truly began. It just wasn't fair…

"Apple bloom where are you going?"

The Changeling's head rose to attention as he slowly peaked out from the bushes. Two of the three young ponies he saw earlier who were playing with the large ball earlier were yelling. The White Unicorn and the light brown Pegasus seemed to be coming towards the school house but they were waiting for someone. The third pony with the bright red mane seemed to be moving away from the school house.

"Come on apple bloom if we are late for class the teacher is going to be really angry."

"I know," The young light colored girl who responded to the name replied. "But the wind swept away our ball. You two go on ahead, I will be right back."

The red 'Pegasus' smiled over the scene he just witnessed. He just couldn't believe it; finally, something was going his way. He waited for the other two to go back inside the school house and it was in that moment he left the bushes with his brown eyes locked on his target. Not wanting to waste this opportunity he moved with quickness away from the red structure and towards the one they called Apple Bloom. He made sure to quickly take cover when he needed too; thankfully because of his skills he was quite fast and stealthy in his approach.

"Apple Bloom is it?" He said with a dark chuckle under his breath. This was practically too good to be true. Here was a sweet innocent and kind of cute pony unsuspecting of the terror that was about to be unleashed upon her. Everything was in place, once she reaches the ball he would jump out and quickly overpower her and then knock her out. Then he would take her away and then interrogate her where she would surely tell him everything she knew because after all, even though they were around the same age she was a weak pony and he was a mighty changeling. "Yeah this is going to be easier than tanking candy from a dried worm in the afternoon."

From behind a conveniently placed tree the red pony was crouching down staring at his prey with eyes of great intensity. Everything was perfect; thanks to his quickness he was able to find a spot that would be perfect for his ambush from when she could finally be able to grab the ball. He had to admit pony wings weren't half bad in use but that wasn't important, THIS was.

This was going to be a very delicate operation and he needed to concentrate. He was only going to get one shot at this, after all, who knows when another opportunity like this was going to past him by. This was it the moment of truth. For this attack to work he was going to have to be nothing less but the personification of precision and grace.

"YYYYAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH! YOU ARE MINE…uh…LITTLE PONY!"

With the precision and grace of a runaway truck, the transformed Changeling leaped himself into the air with his arms and legs stretched out in a body flop motion. He knew his plan was going to work for he saw the look of shock on his prey and then the moment of truth…impact.

The two ponies were tumbling and wrestling along the ground, each one trying to gain the upper hand on the other. Grass and dirt rose and flung around the area as the two destined enemies clashed in this epic battle of tumbling but no matter how much Apple boom struggle, the changeling was determined to win. He had to win; this was an easy path to reach his goals. He was a Changeling and she was a Pony. The proof was there for anyone who had common sense.

Because he was a Changeling he had Strength….

He had the Speed…..

He had the reflexes…..

He had the wits…..

He had brains…..

…..he had a hoof crushing his face….

The chrisom pony found himself pinned under the four hooves of Apple Bloom with her front right hoof over his face in victory while he struggled in a vain attempt to free himself from this embarrassing defeat.

"What was that about? Just who do you think you are mister?"

The young boy could hear the filly speaking to him but unfortunately he was unable to even answer because Apple Bloom's hoof was still over his face. He stopped his struggle just long enough to point it out to her, to which she sighed finally decided jumped off of him, only to be greeted by the body turning over on his belly gasping for air.

"Sorry about that, but you shouldn't be jumping at ponies like that. Don't you know that is dangerous? You never know when you might hurt someone."

The lecturing words of Apple Bloom went in one ear and out the other. As he was bringing his lungs back to a state of calmness, his mind was racing in a desperate bid to process what happened. His plan, his plan, How could his plan missed. His perfectly set scheme was done to the letter, even the ambush was nothing less than flawless execution….but it was over before he knew it. He jumped out at her, rolled once and all of a sudden she had him pinned so completely…..HOW COULD THAT HAPPENED? She was a pony! And what's worse was that she placed her hoof on his head…in changeling society when you had a contest of power and strength, that was when you showed your superiority over the loser.

With bugged eyes and a gaping mouth he looked over at Apple Blood his red coat becoming slightly pale when the full realization washes over him. This Apple Bloom was superior to him…HE WAS OWNED BY A LITTLE PONY…

"Hello is anyone in there? Are you listening to me?"

The red pony quickly shook his head to release himself over the shock. He just realized that this pony was talking to him. It was far too late to run away now because chances are she knew others and she would tell them about him. This meant that stealth was going to become harder. He was compromised big time so now he was going to have to start playing it off. He calmly stood up and began addressing the child pony.

"Oh, uh, sorry about that. " He spoke in a soft and rather polite voice, two aspects that he defiantly wasn't use to presenting. "I….uh…..just wanted to say hello…..and uh…..I guess I got a little carried away."

"I'll say."

The young boy watch as the young girl before him took the time to look him over up and down. It was clear that she was curious about him, which only made sense considering they just met and it wasn't exactly the greatest of first impressions.

"Well no harm no foul. Anyway, you must be new in town since I never seen you before. My name is Apple Bloom, what is yours?"

The Red Pegasus blinked in complete confusion. He couldn't believe what he was hearing…somepony who was actually letting an attack go as nothing more than a minor mishap. If this was back in the Changeling dens he would be facing nothing short of actual war no matter how minor the offense was. Changeling just didn't play that way, yet here was this pony actually just shrugging it off. It was truly unbelievable.

"Uh Hello?"

The red pony quickly shook his head when he realized he spaced out again. "Oh sorry, what did you say?"

"I asked you, your name"

"…oh." CRAP. He completely forgot that Ponies went by names. Not that Changelings didn't have names but with the exception of their queen they were always stated through the movement of their wings. When they addressed each other they always buzzed their wings in a certain manner to indicate what individual they were talking to or about. The only exception was when a changeling was addressing multiple people then they wouldn't buzz their wings at all. "Uh…..name…"

"You do have a name don't you?"

The Changeling could hear the mixture of curiosity and confusion in Apple Bloom's voice. This wasn't the type of thing anypony would think about after all a name is the first thing one learns about themselves. So he needed to say something but what. "…..My name is…Skeet….."

"…..Skeet?..."

"….Yep….Skeet…." Anyone who looked on could just see the sweat that the young boy was producing at that moment. He admit that it wasn't a cool sounding name or even a regular sounding name but it was all that he could think off at a moment's notice.

"Well please to meet your acquaintance Skeet."

The Changeling that has now been dubbed Skeet looked at Apple bloom with mild curiously. He just didn't know what to make of her. One moment he tried to jump and kidnap her and the next they were introducing themselves. Rather cheerfully if he do say so himself. Now normally he would try to pounce on her again but he wasn't too fond of getting more hoofs to face treatment.

"So Skeet where-"

"Apple Bloom, you do know recess is over, don't you!"

Skeet jumped a bit and did a small yelp when a second calm and smooth voice came into the picture. He looks on to see it belonged to an adult pony that was a dark shade of purple. Her mane being a light shade combination streaks of the same color. On her side she had the symbols of three flowers with smiling faces on each. She seemed to give off a gentle presence but the look on her face was that of slight disappointment. Her eyes wandered a bit falling on the young Red Pegasus that was right next to her which to her amusement seemed to have a look of surprise on his face. "….and who is your friend?"

"Ms. Shirley, This is Skeet. He is new here in ponyville. I met him while I was trying to recover my ball. I hope I didn't worry you too much."

"Oh Apple Bloom. You are one of my students. If you don't show up for classes of course I am going to be worried."

"I am sorry Ms. Shirley." Apple Bloom gave a defeated posture with her voice carrying sadness. It was clear that she cared about her teacher and she didn't want to be the cause of any worry.

"That is alright Apple Bloom, considering that you were welcoming a new pony, it does make sense." The adult pony's eyes went back to the newcomer much to his grim dismay. A warm smile formed on her person as she stepped forward. "Well…Mr. Skeet. How about you join us for classes? Being new to ponyville I am sure you are eager in getting to know everyone."

"Well….actually." At that moment Skeet wished he was anywhere but here. He truly didn't plan for this kind of situation; well he knew something like this might occur but not this soon. He was still trying to get over his humiliating defeat and now he was confronted with a situation that guarantees more exposure. He needed to find an excuse to leave and fast. Yes leave and regroup. "Well….you see….I don't want to be a bother….and uh…..I just got here…..you know got to settle in and such…uh."

"Please? It'll be fun. I know my friends would just love to meet you."

Skeet turned to look at Apple Bloom who was doing the pleading. Her voice was a soft sadness that attacked the heart directly; combine that with a pair of huge soft not to mention sad puppy dog eyes that would make even the Queen herself throw in the towel. He could feel his body wash over with a feeling of anxiety and sadness…he could feel his mental walls breaking down and he had no real comprehension of why….All he knew was that looking at this fragile and pleading pony he wanting to do everything in his being to keep her from being sad a moment longer than necessary. All he could must was a low whisper in response "….ok…"

"Great! Let's go!"

Skeet's eyes went wide as dinner plates as he blinks over the complete 180 change of Apple Bloom's demeanor. He could hear the teacher snickering as she turned to lead them back to the school house but his attention was still on Apple Bloom. "Wait…..what just happened?"

"Well? You coming or not?"

Skeet blinked back to reality when Apple Bloom called out to him. As he walked behind the other two ponies he found that he just didn't know what was going on any moment. He herd that Ponies were weak but here was a young filly that took him down with ease and was just going about her business. She even manages to convince him to do something he didn't want to do. That's NEVER happened before, but there was no need to panic just yet….she was just a fluke. The rest of the ponies were just weak creatures who would bow down to Changeling might. Yeah, Apple Bloom was just the exception…..

...right?

* * *

Well there you have it, Chapter 2. I hope you enjoyed reading it. Anyway, see you next time

Xul


	3. Cutie Mark WHAT!

Hello all, Xul again. Here is the third chapter in the story for your enjoyment, also a huge thank you for those who left their comments. Please keep them coming.

Oh I am sorry for getting the teachers name messed up I hope to get it fixed for future installments. Anyways enjoy and be gentle.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Skeet.

* * *

A worm…..

…..yes…

…a worm on a hook…

A simple line that is said by those who are in a situation that they can't really comprehend or rather one that they know they are in but no matter how much they struggle there was simply nothing they can do about it. The statement is usual brought on through different situation and circumstances but in the end the results will always be the same. When the phrase is normally spoken it is normally being ridden by a string of simple yet complex emotions.

Fear…..

Anger…..

Anxiety….

Nervousness….

But there normally two emotions that stand out above all else: Frustration and Confusion.

What normally brings these two critical emotions along with this statement is because being caught in a situation that can only be described as "A worm on a hook". Usually comes when the victim is in a bad spot NOT because he made a mistake but because he was dragged into the situation by something or someone connected to the situation…

"Ok Class, recess is over, it is time to take your seats and settle down…."

…..and right now The young red Pegasus disguised Changeling felt he was indeed in that certain special situation.

He was in front of the classroom right next to the teach known as Ms. Cheerilee. He stood feeling helplessly and watched as ponies roughly the same age as him who once were talking among themselves, passing notes, etc. were now quieting down to give the teacher their undivided attention. At least at first, for it didn't take long for all the students' large round eyes to focus on him. He could feel his back tingling, his hooves were shaking and the expression on his face all said that he would rather be almost anywhere but here at this very moment.

He even found himself giving a little whimper when Apple Bloom left his site to take her seat along with her two best friends.

"Alright class, before we continue with the lessons. I would like you to meet a new student to our wonderful school. Why don't you introduce yourself to the class?"

The boy's eyes suddenly grew larger when that last part of that introduction was a question. He was put on the spot entirely without so much of a name mention. One hand it was understandable after all he didn't exactly come into town with a written profile placed on his forehead for all to see but she could have at least mention it to them, so it would have been at least less time talking on his end.

Perhaps he was reading a bit too into it all but the fact this was happening because he failed in his ambush spoke volumes but this was just a cruel price to pay. But, he was a Changeling and if mere ponies had to do this when they first arrived then he should be able to do this with ease.

"Hello everypony…" Skeet began to speak in a smooth but somewhat monotone voice. Weather he wanted his words to come out like that he didn't know. All he truly knew at that moment was that he wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. "My name is…Skeet and I come from-"

The Changeling's introduction was cut off but a high pitched laughter. Through his eyes what was a sea of general multicolored ponies that all seemed to same with the exception of color now became focused on a single individual. It was that cute female pony covered in a lighter shade of violet and was wearing that piece of what looks like jewelry on her head. He remembered seeing her earlier from the roof of the school house. He also remembered admiring her at the time but now she was….laughing at him?

"What kind of name is Skeet?"

The Red Pony could feel the once admiration he had for him being washed away only to be replaced with annoyance. It wasn't too long before the mocking pony nudge the girl next to her and soon as if following her queue she joined in the high pitch laughter. He saw it was that same dark grey pony with the silver/white mane that was with her earlier during recess. One thing he did note was that no pony else was joining in the laughter.

"I mean look at him. Not only does he have a weird name, he doesn't even have a cutie mark yet."

"Yeah, We already have three blank flanks losers at this school, we get another one ponies from all over are going to think that we harbor cutie mark rejects."

As the mockery and laughter of these two female ponies filled the classroom Skeet found himself standing perfectly still. The thing about this whole situation was that he really truly didn't know how to react to it. In Changeling society if one mocked you, you had every right to 'teach them a lesson' as It were. The only reason why no one attacked him in a physical fashion was because he was a youngling and each one presented the future for the entire race and man oh man did he take advantage of that little loophole.

However, right now he wanted nothing more than to go over there and show them why the Changelings don't take no guff from anyone but he wasn't a Changeling as far as they knew, he was a pony but how would a pony react to such humiliation. Sure, he heard that ponies were soft and kind that thrived on love but, even he knew that there was going to be bad ones, he just didn't think he would encounter one so soon. But he did and she was a bad one alright….no she was just a real jerk.

He could feel himself giving off a low hiss. His Changeling instincts were slowly taking over his reason. There was only so much mockery he could take and he was just a child after all, he was still growing and learning. The fact remained that he wouldn't take this kind of abuse from another changeling adult or not, so he sure wasn't going to take this from a couple of little ponies.

"Hey you two, why don't you just leave him alone and let him finish."

A light but firm voice managed to cut into the laughter and in that moment all eyes suddenly focused on the direction of the voice. Skeet saw that it was one of the female ponies that was playing ball with Apple Bloom earlier, the Caramel colored Pegasus and along with Apple Bloom didn't have a cutie mark.

"I mean, come on Diamond Tiara, You do this with every new student that comes to this school. Don't you think you should give it a rest?"

The primal instinct that was brewing within Skeet fueled by the notion of attacking this stuck up pony who he once admire was transformed into a feeling of being surprised and it wasn't unpleasant either. He was mostly surprised by the fact that somepony actually took the time to stand up for him. This was something that caught him off guard, even more so than the cruel laughter he has fallen victim too.

In Changeling Society, the notion of standing with someone while they were being ridiculed wouldn't even cross the minds of most of them. Changeling had to be tough and able to handle any situation. If one of them was too weak to face the one who dared challenge them then they wanted worthy their time to come to their aid. The only exception to this stigma was when the entire changeling race would attack another race, like for example the invasion of Canterlot, then Changelings will stand together against a common enemy but otherwise…..

"Wait, your name is Diamond Tiara." Skeet finally spoke, coming out of his stupor. He actually managed to speak up before the pony brat began to snip at the other Pegasus who was defending him.

He watched the light purple filly with caution eyes as she turned her attention back towards him. He could see that air of superiority as she looked at him as if daring him to even try to make fun of her name. He may not know that much about these little ponies but he knew a challenge when he saw it and with the smirk that crept upon his face, he was more than willing to take the invitation.

"Now correct me if I am wrong….." Skeet began with an undertone of new found confidence in his voice. "But isn't a tiara a form of crown?"

"Why yes it is?"

"Ah I see…" Skeet could feel body cringe a little as he watched Diamond get all perky and began to fiddle with the tiara on her head to make sure it was place properly. It was clear to him that she was rather proud of that piece of metal on her head and she had no problems showing it off to everypony. "Well feel free to comment on this if I am wrong but, aren't crowns normally worn by royalty?"

The classroom was suddenly filled by 'oooooooo" by the young ponies as their eyes looked at Diamond to see her reaction. Much to Skeet as well as a few others amusement the stuck up girl was turning into a light shade of red in anger.

"Well….yeah techni-"

"And with that being said uh…Diamond Tiara was it?" Skeet quickly cut off her reply. He had her nervous and on the ropes and everypony within that very room knew it. "Does that mean that you are royalty?"

"Well…no but-"

"What about being part of the royal family in some way?"

"Um…."

"Ok, did you at least sneeze while being in the same room with any of them?"

"Well you se-"

Skeet quickly held up one of his front hooves in order to stop her from continuing her excuse. The young Pegasus seeing this Diamond Tiara sweat actually caused the smirk that was already on his person to grow even more. This was a true treat to behold, and it was actually nice. Normally he would have just attack her as changeling normally do but there was something to be said in attacks that wasn't physical in nature. He might not be able to act on his changeling's laws but this wasn't half bad either.

"So basically" He began with a semi puffed out chest. "You are named after a crown. Something that is basically worn by either high royalty like Princess Celistia and Luna or by ponies who are attending a very special occasion like a ball or something like that. Not to mention you are wearing one right now in your hair and…."

Skeet paused a moment as he walked forward a bit and looked over to the side of the light violent pony only to see her cutie mark which matched the Tiara on her head. His eyebrow appeared raised as he looked at her. "It's your cutie mark? Really...A Tiara is your cutie mark yet you are not part of the royal family and I'M the one with the weird the weird name? Is that correct?"

Skeet went back to the front of the class proper when some of the ponies were now laughing over the comment that he made about Diamond Tiara. It was about time someone put that stuck up pony in her place. He watched her carefully waiting for some kind of retort from the rich girl but all he got was an 'hn' and she turned her nose at him.

The Changeling's smirk turned into a smile as the laughter around the room slowly died down. It wasn't an evil smile or even a gloating one but it was rather a satisfying one. He won yet he felt no reason to rub her nose in it like he would normally do. In fact if anything he was just glad that he manages to repel her away so that he could finally move on.

He noticed out from the corner of his eye that Ms. Cheerilee was coming upon him with a gentle smile and a light wink at him. With that small notion he realized why she didn't interfere sooner; it was just a bit of hazing. He even remembered that caramel Pegasus mention that diamond was like this to all new ponies to the school. Was this just a bit of indirect hazing?

"Well Skeet. I am afraid we went over time when the introduction. Please take one of the empty seats in the back and we will begin the lesson."

Skeet blinked a bit as he suddenly snapped at attention. He didn't know why but whenever any of the ponies give him one of those gentle smiles he felt himself spacing out almost disarming. It was actually quite unsettling, especially considered he was use to scorn and scowls not positive reasons to him. He was beginning to wonder if this was an ability the ponies had within themselves.

"Alright…." Skeet spoke softly as he moved towards the back of the classroom he notices some of the children were giving him quick glances but it was just within the span of a moment as they quickly look to the front of the class to pay attention to the lesson and her upcoming lesson. He found a chair in the back corner of the room, which suited him just fine since he felt that he had enough attention on him for one day.

"Oh man." The young boy said under his breath not particularly to anyone. He tried to figure out how he even got to where he is now. As the teacher was addressing the class he went over the scenarios over and over in his head. Trying to piece together exactly how he went from sneaking into ponyville to sitting down listening to a lesson at the school house.

Thinking it all over step by step: He first managed to sneak into this small town called Ponyville. He thought he could use a blunt force tactic to speed up his plan of information gathering for his people or rather more specifically the Queen.

….then he lost…..

The red Pegasus lowered his head and let it rest gently on the desk when the realization of losing returned to his mind. Up until this point he noticed that he was either still in shock and/or distracted to pay attention to it. Not to mention he was bull rushed by that young Filly called Apple Bloom and her teacher Ms. Cheerilee. Now that he truly through about it he had no real time to really reflect on it. That is until now…..

That fact of the matter was that he was put into this place because ultimately he failed plan 'A' in his mission. He figured he would have been home in time for supper. While he should be at least depressed over his current state he wasn't. He was a Changeling chosen by his Queen; he couldn't let a minor setback get to him. After all, the main plan was still intact. He did manage to infiltrate a pony community…at least partially and if he played his cards right he will draw little to no attention to himself.

BRIIIIINNNGGGG!

The dreaded pricing noise once again snapped Skeet back to attention. He ever realized just how BORING these 'school lessons' were. How can these kids stand to pay attention to somepony lecturing about some subject that wasn't the least bit interesting? Mathematics? What the heck was that? Who would ever need to know any of it? He didn't even realize he drifted off until the bell ring in all of its annoying ear attacking glory.

"Alright Class, please make sure to study upon the lessons tonight and I will see you all tomorrow."

Skeet just gave a sigh as he herd Ms. Cheerilee give her final words to the class as a whole before they all trotted off in their own separate ways for the day. Even though the lesson was a bit….dull. He had to admit it wasn't really that bad either. Certainly a far less painful way of learning compared to how the way Changelings learned. Back there they learned by doing. For example: When a youngling was at the proper age to learn…the changelings literally throw them off a small hill, if they didn't want to hit the ground they will learn QUICK. Cruel? Yes but there hasn't been one failure yet in their history. But that was beside the point; he was now going to have to figure out exactly what to do next.

"Hey Skeet wait up!"

Skeet was walking down the main path out from the school when he suddenly found himself stopping and turning around to see that it was Apple Bloom that was calling out to him. With her were the two fillies that she was friends with, the caramel Pegasus with the wild violet mane and the pearl white unicorn that had a light version of purple and pink color for her curly mane.

"Oh hey Apple Bloom." The Red pony began as he turned himself completely around to face the three ponies. "What's up?...Who are your friends?"

"You two know each other?" Skeet's eyes turned to the white unicorn that suddenly developed a confused look on her features that was being directed towards her friend.

"Oh yeah!" Apple Bloom began a chuckle and gentle rubbing one of her front hooves on the back of her head. "I guess you can say that I 'discovered' him, while trying to recover our ball after recess."

"That's one way to put it…" Skeet lowered his head and spoke softly with a hint of disappointment.

Apple Bloom's chuckle suddenly grew into a laugh as she gentle patted the red Pegasus's head in a gentle gesture of pity.

"Ahem….." The unicorn murmured trying to continue to conversation with introductions.

"Oh right." Apple Bloom brought back her hoof and calmly motioned towards her friends to begin the proper introductions. "Since you already know my name Skeet this here are my two best friends."

"This here is Scootaloo." Skeet watched as the light brown Pegasus filly did a little pose as if trying to show how awesome she was. He had to admit that it actually wasn't half bad, of course not as cool as one of his poses but there was still potential.

"….and this is Sweetie Belle." Skeet looked over at the unicorn pony and nodded to both of them. They seemed like really nice fillies….well…..at least nicer than that stuck up jerk Diamond Tiara. However, he raised eyebrow when he suddenly noticed the introduction wasn't quite over with. "And together we are."

"THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!"

"THE CUITE MARK CRUSADERS!"

"THE CUITE MARK CRUSADERS!"

"AAH!" Skeet found himself launched off his hooves and rolled on upon the ground a few times against his will when he was 'treated' the last part of the introduction. It wasn't until a few moments when he finally stopped and manage to get all four of his hooves back on the ground but that didn't mean that the world was going to stop spinning along with him.

"Wh….wha….whhhaa?" The poor Changeling could string two thoughts together for a moment. He was hit by a voice unlike nothing he has ever encountered before. It was like a tornado forming but instead of hitting the ground to completely form itself, it decided to hit his face instead. After taking in some much needed oxygen into his lungs he finally manage to get some proper words out. "What…was….that?"

"Oh Sorry about that" Apple Bloom spoke as the three crusaders went to check to see if Skeet was alright. "Sometimes we get carried away with are introduction." Sometimes we tend to go overboard with our intro."

"Ah, you don't say…." The red pony quickly shook the last of the cobwebs out and finally was able to regain his composure. He looked at the three calmly before he continued. "So…..The Cutie Mark Crusaders?"

"Yeah!" The young pony known as is Scootaloo chimed in. "We are on a Crusade….a mission."

"…..To earn our Cutie marks…" Sweetie Belle continued.

"Through rain, snow, sleep, or food. We won't rest until we have our Cutie Marks." Apple Bloom finished.

Skeet stood still and watched as each member of the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders' beamed with pride as they spoke about their group. Truth be told he didn't know what to make of them, it all felt like an attack but at the same time it didn't…..well with the exception of the actual proclamation of their name. The was without a doubt an attack but the rest of it was just so odd that he couldn't bring himself to do anything else but the stare at them like a pony caught in a flashlight.

"Now the thing is." Apple Bloom spoke with much enthusiasm. "We thought it was really cool on how you handled Diamond Tiara."

"Yeah." Scootaloo interjected. "It was about time someone took that pony down a peg."

"No kidding, even though she will be right back to being like she was tomorrow." Sweetie Belle mention with a light sigh.

"True, but It can't really be helped." The caramel pony spoke with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Anyway" Apple Bloom said trying to get the conversation back on track. "Skeet, we like the way you handled Diamond and the fact that you don't have your cutie mark yet. We see that you might actually have potential to join us."

Skeet raised his eyebrow with caution. "Join you?...As in be a Cutie Mark Crusader?"

The three of them nodded with happy faces, clearly glad that Skeet understood what they were saying. Scootaloo however, was the first one to speak up.

"Of course the Cutie Mark Crusaders is a special club. Not just any pony can get in….so for now you won't be an actual Crusader…instead you will be a Cutie Mark Pledge."

"A Cutie…..Mark…Pledge?" Skeet said each one of those words like they were presented to him in some foreign language that he wasn't familiar with.

"Yep!" Apple Bloom chimed in. "As a pledge you will be under us. Working your way up through various task until eventually you would become a full fledge member."

Skeet just blinked completely speechless, while the other two ponies next to Apple Bloom giggled.

"Now there will be some initiation and all that good stuff eventual but that would have to come later. Right now you can help us out."

"Help you?...how?" Skeet was getting an odd tingle that went through his spine. Even though he haven't herd the reply yet sometime just told him that he was going to regret asking that question.

"Weeeeelllll!" Sweetie Belle cooned. "As the Crusaders we do odd jobs and/or activities to find our special talents in order to gain our cutie marks. Today we are going to help Apple Bloom and her family buck apples.

Skeet listened to the task at hand and had to admit that he wasn't quite sure what 'buck apples' meant but he had to admit, he was a little curious about…but the way the girls were looking at him cause the tingle in his back to grow into outright chills.

"So will you help us?"

Skeet gave a little whimper when he found himself staring into that same adorable pleading look that Apple Bloom gave him earlier. That was the same look that caused him to go back with her and Ms. Cheerilee to the classroom. The worst part about it was that he was getting that melting feeling again…but this was more potent because the other two members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders gave him smaller looks. "Well….I…."

"Then it's settled!" Sweetie Belle broke the look and raised her front hood in gleeful triumph. Within a moment the three young fillies quickly pounced on and proceeded to clamp onto Skeet much to his surprised and dismay. "With our new pledge here girls. Let's continue on our quest to get our marks!"

"WHOOHOOO!" They cried out in unison as the clap their free hooves together before dragging the poor confused Changeling behind them on their way to Sweet Apple Acres.

Skeet at first tried to struggle against them but found out that he in all of his Changeling glory was just no match for three hyper active fillies. In the end there was no real choice for him but to just get dragged into this next situation but it couldn't get any worse could it? But even more so than that the one other thing that constantly ran through his mind was the title that was bestowed upon him…

…..Cutie Mark Pledge?...

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Well there you have it. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I did writing it.

Ssee you next time.

Xul


	4. Apple Bucking: Crusaders Style

Hello again everyone, Xul here to deliver you the next chapter in this story.

I would like to thank the people who took the time to read and comment on this story. It true fuels me to know that there are people who actually like it.

Anyway, that's enough talking. ON WITH THE READ!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Skeet.

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"Humm….an Orchard huh?"

Known only to the few ponies who have already met him, the red Pegasus disguised Changeling known as Skeet could be sitting down upon some soft grass contemplating on what was before him. There were trees that stretched as far as his young eyes could see. It was a rather interesting site to behold really….well at least to him.

Seeing the healthy trees standing tall so that those would look upon them could marvel at their magnificent. The leaves making a gently rustling sound as the air gently ran through each and every one of them. The strange bright red objects that seemed to hang from the trees very branches also swaying, not as much as the leaves he noticed but there was still movement clearly.

He remembered seeing his place during his first rough sweep of Ponyville before he "decided" to get involved with the citizen directly but he never really pay that much attention to it. Now that he actually thought about it. It really wasn't that long ago in which during his time with his Changeling brood the youngling would see lands like this when they would make their journey from place to place.

The thing was that he always noticed land like this especially near other towns or places where ponies settled but he never pay no heed because it was unimportant to him or rather Changelings as a whole. All he truly knew was that ponies grew places like these for whatever strange reason that was known only to them apparently.

"Yep, we call this place: Sweet Apple Acres." Apple Bloom said happily, her voice booming with pride.

Even though his eyes never left the impressive view a little Smile managed to creep upon Skeet's features after she said that. What was interesting was the fact that it wasn't his normal arrogant, egotistical smile but an actual smile. A soft smile that one would have to focus to catch on the young boy's face but it was unmistakably there.

He didn't know how to explain it but he could just feel the Pride and Care that went into this place. This Orchard…this Sweet Apple Acres, just seemed to resonate within him something more than anything else he has ever seen or experience in his young life. It was just so different, so alien, but it wasn't unpleasant. In fact it was actually…..nice.

"So….strange…." Skeet spoke in a soft whispering voice more to himself than the filly next to him. Whether she actually heard what he said he didn't know and he was too far into his own mind to find out. He just couldn't explain why this place fascinates him so much….or rather this very moment of time. The trees that were standing tall with presence but not imposing, the gentle wing that rustled both the leaves and his hair with only it's gentle whistling being the only noise to grace his ears. It all brought a soft warm feeling that he truly couldn't describe, in fact he noticed it ever sense he left the saves and set out into Equestria but now that things have calmed down from the chaos it was actually stronger than before.

His eyes finally moved as they lowered to the ground and he gently stomped upon the ground with his front hooves, he made sure not to do it too hard so that it wouldn't damage the grass blades. He could practically feel Apple Bloom's gaze of confusion upon him but at the moment it was of little consequence to him.

"The others should have been here by now." Apple Bloom Spoke with a hint of worry.

"Yeah….." The Red Pegasus replied calmly. Apple Bloom's voice slightly brought him out of his trance. The calmness of this place could do little to stop the shivers that were now going down his back. He recalled Scootaloo saying that she was quote: 'Working on a device that will help them get their cutie marks for sure.' Sweet Belle and Apple Bloom wanted to help but the caramel colored Pegasus only took the unicorn with her leaving instruction for Apple bloom to 'make sure the pledge goes nowhere!'

Of course this annoyed him because he was standing right there in front of them while they were talking, come to think of it, didn't they know his name by now. He just couldn't believe that he was going to be addressed as 'pledge' a mere title.….a title that was placed upon him not by choice by the way but instead was FORCED on him by the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"I am sure they will be along soon enough." As Skeet spoke those words the shivers that were flowing down his spine like a river suddenly became a bit more rampant. The truth is whatever they had in store for him, scared him and the look that Scootaloo gave him when she called him 'Pledge' would have turned him pale white if it was possible. The fact of the matter was that right now he didn't want to think of what grim plot that he would be subject too; he just wanted to enjoy this…..this peaceful calmness.

"I'm sure you are right."

The black winged pony nodded calmly and thankfully the tension that he was feeling before was actually dying down. His attention returned to the beautiful view of Sweet Apple Acres and he was right back into his calm state.

He knew that he should be a bit more caution while being here. After all, he wasn't really a pony and he was on a mission of surveillance for his Changeling brothers and sisters and ESPECIALLY for his queen, but the fact of that matter was that it wasn't time to send his first report quite yet and he was actually enjoying forgetting about responsibilities.

Even though it appeared that he was looking out into the orchard there were times where his eyes would make quick glances over to Apple Bloom who seemed to be doing the same thing he was…just sitting down waiting and taking in the view…with perhaps a bit more pride but the concept was the same.

He was beginning to think that maybe….just maybe, he was overreacting a little bit about this whole idea with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Maybe he was just thinking the worst because they were ponies….sure the ponies managed to defeat his people but surely those were adult ponies, not young ones like Apple Bloom. The Cutie Mark Crusaders in the end were kids like him….just how much REAL danger could they possibility be?

"ARE YOU READY PLEDGE?"

"SQUEE!" Against his own will Skeet jumped into the air and spun around doing a complete 360o which would have looked rather impressive if it wasn't for the fact that he landed on his belly instead on his hooves.

After a few moments of keeping his face buried in the ground in a vain attempt to shut out the high pitch laughter that was now thick in the air, he decided to look up only to see a pearl white hoof that belong to Scootaloo being offered.

"Ha ha ha…..Sorry about that. ….heh….I tried to resist but it was just so easy….. "

"What kind of apology is that?" Skeet sighed as he took the hoof and proceeded to get back to standing on the ground rather than just laying down. As he dusted himself off, he watch as Scootaloo was still trying to hold back her laughter, rather poorly but at least she was making the effort.

"Sorry about Scootaloo, Skeet. Sometimes she takes after Rainbow Dash a bit too much?"

Skeet raised an eyebrow towards Sweetie Belle when she gave him the explanation over her fellow Crusader's behavior. "Rainbow Dash…Who is that?"

"Who is that? YOU DON'T KNOW WHO RAINBOW DASH IS?"

Skeet quickly found himself in a defensive posture as he was now under the VERY annoyed gaze of Scootaloo. For a moment there he thought that this young Pegasus Filly was going to melt him under her rather focus and intense stare. He quickly shut his eyes anticipating the absolute worse to come.

"Uh Scootaloo…He's new to Ponyville, remember? It makes sense that he wouldn't know who Rainbow Dash is."

"Oh….oh yeah…."

Skeet took the risk of opening one of his eyes to what exactly what just happened. A wave of calmness slowly returned when he realized that Apple Bloom was the one who came to his rescue, and not a moment too soon if you ask him.

He gave a relaxing sigh but it was quickly followed by coming to attention as Apple Bloom continued to speak this time more towards the group as a whole.

"Look, there will be more time later on to explain to Skeet here just who exactly Rainbow Dash is."

Skeet's brown orbs moved over to the now annoyed Pegasus Filly of the Cutie Mark Crusaders as she gave a reluctant nod and huffed. The Changeling could just feel that this particular member really loved this 'Rainbow Dash' who ever she was and always seemed to jump at the chance 'in his case literally' to talk about her. He could only imagine what this Rainbow Dash was like or worse what Scootaloo would be like around this Rainbow Dash. Truthfully, he didn't know if he really wanted to find out either one.

His eyes moved as they rested once again upon Apple Bloom who was continuing to speak to the rest of the group.

"Now that we got that settled, why don't you tell Skeet and I exactly what this plan you cooked up Scootaloo?"

"Ok! We've set it up over here. "

Skeet watched as Scootaloo happily pranced off in order to show them and of course this left the young boy no choice but to follow him especially after Apple Bloom gave him the notion that it was alright. He just hopped that the reality was much less frightening than what he was imagining in his head.

"Well here it is!"

Skeet suddenly turned a pale shade of red when he finally met with the reality side of the pain and he had to say that it wasn't AS bad as what he thought of….no It was much MUCH worse. "Wh….what is THAT?"

"I call it the Crusader Slingshot! Isn't it great?"

"Uh…." Even though the young red Pegasus tried, He truly couldn't think of a reply. He was too engrossed over what was right in front of his eyes. The Crusader Slingshot was a huge rubber band that oddly enough seemed to be glittering and sparkling. The object was wrapped around two large nails hammered into the ground. The rubber band was already pulled significantly back. At the end of it was a roped that was tired around a tree.

Skeet looked at this crude contraption this…..Crusader Slingshot with what could only be described as a perfect blend of Curiosity and worry. When he finally got over his initial shock, he looked over at the Cute Mark Crusaders. "So….Crusader Slingshot huh?...and what are you going to be doing with this thing?"

Skeet's looked over at Apple Bloom as she was the first one to speak up.

"Well Skeet, Do you see the buckets that are placed underneath each Tree?"

Skeet took the time to look in the direction where Apple Bloom was pointed at and nodded when he saw the buckets in question. He mentally slapped himself when he realized that he didn't notice the buckets beforehand. It seemed that he was so engrossed over the trees as a whole that he never thought to actually look under them.

"Yeah?" He said calmly as his eyes looked back over at Apple Bloom to let her know that he was ready for her to continue on with the explanation.

"Well it is Apple Buck season, that time of year where the apple family goes to harvest the apples from our trees in order to sell them to the rest of Ponyville not to mention, eat for ourselves as well."

Skeet blinked a bit as he gave a quick glance back at the trees most specifically the red objects that were hangings from their branches. So they were called Apples and you eat them. A hint of confusion seems to form on his face. It was just so strange; they were red objects that grew from wood…how could you eat something that comes from wood?

"Well My Big Brother and Sister, Big Macintosh and Apple Jack are always harvesting the apples by themselves, well sometimes some of the other ponies help but most of the time it is just them and I am not strong enough to buck the apples down quite yet.

So I figured that if we could find a way to help with the Apple bucking we can take some of the load off my brother and sister and get our cutie marks."

Skeet nodded as he listened. It was rather interesting to see that ponies are willing to help each other out. Not like Changelings at all who wouldn't help unless it was absolutely critical for either them or if the Queen gave the order to do so.

"YEAH!...

Skeet's ears drooped when he herd Scootaloo chime in.

"...and with that I figured, what could be better, we can help out Apple bloom's family AND earn our Cutie Marks as the same time. Considering none of us are strong enough to kick the apples down ourselves and it would take way too long to take the apples down one by one I figured we would do the next best thing…..Ram them."

"I see…." Skeet blinked a little when the entire concept seemed to wash over it. It was rather sound in theory. They want to help the Apple family get the apples down from the trees and since they couldn't do it themselves they would fire something at the threes to get the force necessary in order to get the red objects down. But, there was one question burning in the back of his mind as he looked around to see a lack of objects like boulders and such to launch at the apple trees. "In that case, what are we going launch."

"Pledges." Scootaloo replied as she snapped the large rubber band making sure the elasticity was holding properly.

"Oh Pledges…." Skeet nodded understandably, at least until his bring finally caught up to the actual word that was spoken to him. With large eyes he looked over at the Pegasus Filly. "PLEDGES?"

"Yep, the way I figured it. Getting a bolder or something else to get the impact we need would just be too heavy to lug on over here. Besides, you are a Cutie Mark Pledge; you have to EARN the right to be one of us. Just think of this as your first step on your way to becoming a full fledge member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders."

If Skeet's jaw could drop down and drill through the Earth, it would have down so with no problems at all. He just couldn't believe what he was hearing. She was suggesting that they would slingshot HIM into a tree to get the Apples down. He heard some hair brain ideas in his young life but this was just CRAZY. What was really getting him was the way that Scootaloo was just BEEMING with pride over her so called 'brilliant' idea.

He needed find a way out of this and FAST. Normally would use s speed and jus fly away as quickly as his wings would carry him but the fact was that he was undercover and he didn't know if he could infiltrate with other ponies, or perhaps it would be the fact that he would have to start over and he didn't want to do that yet.

It was quite clear that there was no talking Scootaloo out of this. If nothing else, it was because he was just a pledge and not full part of the Crusaders themselves. His eyes looked over at Apple Bloom and he found himself perking up a little bit. The Caramel colored Pegasus may be a bit wild but Apple Bloom seemed more reasonable. "Apple Bloom surely you don't think this is a good idea do you? I mean come on surely you realize this is crazy!"

"Well actually, I think Scootaloo is on to something."

If there was ever a look that was just the personification of dumbfounded the red Pegasus colt was giving it in FULL force.

"You are a Cutie Mark Pledge which would make you the perfect candidate for this idea and who knows…you might actually get your Cutie mark after this."

"You can't be….." Skeet didn't bother finishing the sentence. He was just being bombarded with disbelief so overwhelming he could barely contain it. He truly couldn't believe what he was actually hearing. Didn't COMMEN SENSE exist in Ponyville? There had to be a way out of this, something he could do or say that wouldn't result in him being a pony pellet.

His eyes calmly scanned the area for some way to escape and it seemed that his silent prayer might actually be answered. A bright light at the end of this dark tunnel, something that just might prove to be his salvation. "Sweetie Belle….."

The near desperate Changeling noticed that Sweetie Belle have been rather quiet since she and Scootaloo came back with the supplies for their 'brilliant' invention. Perhaps she believed that this idea was as farfetched as he did. Maybe…..just maybe he could get her to convince her friends and unlike him they will listen to her because she was a full fledge member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"Sweetie Bell….." He spoke softly as he went up to her much to her surprise and the curiosity of Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. With his own hooves he gently took up the unicorn's front hooves in the name of friendship with just a light undertone of pleading and desperation. Theirs eyes met and for a moment it felt that there was a true connection of understanding between them. "Surely you understand don't you? You know why the situation is just uncalled for, don't you?"

"Yes you are right Skeet." Sweet Belle spoke in a soft delicate manner to the colt. "I understand the situation perfectly."

Skeet looked at Sweetie Bell with huge eyes on the verge of tears. Finally, someone who understood what he was thinking. Someone who knew that this was just a crazy idea and shouldn't be done, At least not in this way. It seemed that he was actually going to get out of this after all…..

'BONK!'

That is until reality kicked back in and he felt Sweet Belle literally slam something upon his head.

"I understand that now with this helmet on you are not ready!" Sweet Belle spoke with great enthusiasm.

"Mmuuughhhhaaaaa." Skeet whimpered as he struggled in a desperate attempt to get the helmet off…..or at least loosen it enough so that he could see. It took a few moments but he manage to move it just enough to be able to see out from one eye and with one quick scan he realized that while he was struggling, the Cutie Mark Crusaders took the opportunity to put him into position to be launched.

"Alright, are we ready to do this?" Scootaloo spoke with great determination and pride.

"YEAH"

"YEAH"

"NO!...w…WAIT" Skeet spoke with sweat now dripping down his entire body and his face no longer hiding the fear that he felt ever sense he saw this device.

"Oh what now?" The Filly Pegasus spoke with a hint of annoyance.

"Don't you see that this is just insane?" Skeet said as loud as he could his voice becoming borderline panicked.

"Oh come off it. Aren't boys supposed to be tough?" Scootaloo rolled her light purple eyes. "You are a boy aren't you?"

Skeet suddenly perked up as an indication that he might have a slim chance of getting out of this predicament. "If I say no, will you let me out of this?"

The young Changeling watched as the Cutie Mark Crusaders suddenly gave a 'hummmmm' in unison as they all looked at each other. This was Skeet's last chance to get out of this and he knew it…he couldn't believe it came to this but he was willing to forgo a stereotype if it meant he didn't have to do this.

"NAH!"

"NAH!"

"NAH!"

As the three girls all gave their answer in unison with an odd sense of Cheerfulness, he could feel his hope break and shatter into pieces. He has herd of stories of ponies before but he herd that ponies were supposed to be more about love, peace, and understanding…..but THIS….this is

"So are you ready?"

Skeet looked and gave all three of them a morbid look. "NO!"

"Close Enough!" Apple Bloom cheerfully chimed in and cut the rope before the pledge could object any more.

With a shriek that was high and loud enough to cause glass to shatter, the Changeling turned Pegasus was launched spectacularly into the air. He could feel the air moving against his small body but that wasn't near enough to stop his velocity. Everything was going so fast that he didn't even have time to even think about…..all he could do was hope and prayed that fate would be kind to him and let him off in one piece.

'WHAM!"

…little Skeet's prayers were denied…..

Skeet found himself lying on the ground, in what position he truly didn't know. At first he wondered if he perished in the impact and was known in the next world, but the pain he was experiencing proved that he was still kicking.

The truth was that he didn't know what to do. He couldn't even string a real though together, all he could do was just lay there and go through the horrific effect of slipping in and out of conciseness. He truly couldn't control himself, he wanted to open his eyes to see what was going on but his body was fighting him the entire way.

All he could make out were shapes and colors.

Ponies….yes there were pony shapes….some were bigger than others….

There were also colors….white….yellow…..purple…red….light blue….even pink …pink…pink? What was pink doing in within this?

…..and voices…..these shapes and colors were followed up by voices. Some lighter than others and some were deeper than others. But the one thing that the shapes, the voices and the colors had in common was that they all seemed to be hovering over and around him. However, despite the distilled imagery he didn't feel afraid.

Even though it was rather faint he could feel his tiny limp body being lifted….he thought he might have let out a soft groan in the middle of it but he didn't notice, how could he? His strength was zapped away. All that was truly known to him now was that darkness was finally overtaking him completely and it was welcomed.

..….yes…...

...rest will be most welcomed…...

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Well there you have it. I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter as I did writing it.

Thank you again for your support and see you next time.

Xul


	5. New day and Invitations

Guess who is back? ^_^

I am here to present you with another installment with my story. I hope you all enjoyed it and thank you once again for your comments they truly do keep me going.

Anyway, on with the story and once again….please be gentle.

Disclaimer: I own Skeet…and nothing else.

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"…..no….

…nnnoooo…..

…mmmmmmmm"

The naturally recurring state known as Sleep is said to be one of the things that most if not all living creatures have to go through in one form or another. It can serve as many different functions for those who indulge in this practice, but perhaps one of the most important one of them all is Restoration.

After having a hard day or working or perhaps being bombarded with stressed or even coming down with some minor injury, Sleep can be a decided factor on how just how well the body recovers from whatever is placed upon it.

After all, not everything can move a full speed and at maximum efficiently indefinably, there will have to come a time sooner or later where the body is just going to say no more and shut down and it can be said that when a living being is at the point of total exhaustion or where the body just HAS to rest to recover from its trails, that time of rest will be amongst the greatest they will ever know.

"mmmuurrrrrrrrrrrr."

Right now, no one knows this fact more than the young Changeling known Skeet. After everything he has been through so far, this was a rest that was most welcomed and EARNED as far as he was concerned. He needed to be within this soft darkness right now, for if he was in the darkness that means he could still be resting peacefully

"nnnnnooooooooo"

Unforchantly, the sun was giving the youngling a brutal protest as it forced it's yellow rays of light to piece the tender darkness that Skeet was trying in vain to remain in. It just wasn't fair, this was the one time were he didn't have to worry about anything and now the blasted day was trying to take it away from him….well he wasn't going to let that happened, no puny sun was going to match his MIGHTY Changeling will to snooze.

With a dark purr of annoyance he gently tossed and turned against the soft fabric to force himself into a more comfortable position…

"Hum…..w…wha?..."

…..or against he would have down if his curiously would have stayed dormant to allow him to do so.

"W…what is this?" What the Sun started, the Changeling's own curious nature finished as the young boy found himself reluctantly opening his eyes. This was truly the first time he noticed it but he looked to see that he was laying down on something that could only be described as fluffy and soft.

His hooves calmly ran over the soft fabric that was covering the majority of his body. In all of his young life he has never seen anything like it. He moved his body up and down a couple of time to find that there was a bounce to meet his movement.

"Wow" Skeet giggled as he bounced a few more times getting a real feel for it. "So this is what Ponies sleep on?"

Skeet stopped for a moment to think. He remembered hearing some of the adults when they talked about infiltrating other pony towns throughout the world. One of the things they mentioned was that Ponies like to sleep on soft things beds.

"A bed…..so this is a bed." Skeet spoke calmly to himself with a light hint of nervousness. Back at the hive, the Changelings would sleep on the cold hard ground no matter what part of the world they traveled through. He could remember the adults talk about these 'beds' and while very tempting it was one of the reason what made ponies so soft and such easy prey.

It was a bit of a stigma for a Changeling to openly admit that they enjoyed almost anything ponies like. After all they were the food in a sense and not their friends and bed was defiantly something that ponies would like after all, who WOULDN'T like to be within all of this softness while they slept.

Skeet looked down at the bed he was in calmly and just shook his head rapidly before giving off a big genuine smile on his face. "Forget that, the adults are no heeeerrrrrre."

With gleeful abandon, the young one buried himself underneath the covers and proceeds to roll and move his way within this soft piece of paradise. This is exactly why everything exists, to experience softness like this. Truly he could roam within this wonderful structure called the bed forever.

"If this is a dream, I don't EVER want to wake up." Skeet purred as his head gently managed to wiggle it's way out of the blanket ball he was now engrossed in along with a gleeful look on his face for the entire world to see.

"Well, it looks like you are having fun."

"SQUEE!" Skeet's altered state of fun was suddenly interrupted when the soft yet slightly amused voice entered his hearing. The young Changeling's body suddenly reacted to the disruption as it jerked and twisted in middle air and it wasn't much longer until he suddenly found himself on the floor still wrapped around the bed sheets in a semi-sheet ball state.

"…..and I reckon that you have recovered quite nicely if you are able to jump around on the bed like that."

After some effort, Skeet manage the turtle his way out of the fabric mass and poke his head out to see who was it that interrupted his play time. His eyes scanned the target pony and blinked a little bit with confusion. It was defiantly an adult female whose coat that was a bit on the lighter shade of orange. Her mane and tail were both sunshine yellow and both were tied in a ponytail with a red ribbon tied at the end. She had exactly three white freckles on either side of her cheek that seemed to compliment her cuteness, large green eyes and on her head was a rather nifty cowboy hat…..or rather cow girl hate. Her most unique feature as with all Ponies was her cutie mark which was the shape of three bright red apples.

"Now don't get me wrong, it is good see especially considering Yall didn't look so good when we first brought you in to get you patched up."

As Skeet's eyes scanned the adult pony as she walked forward towards him, a twinge a fear began to form in the back of his neck. A twinge that seemed to grow from being a slight prickle to a wave that was moving throughout his entire body. He wasn't entirely sure why he was feeling this way but all he knew was that his entire being was telling him to panic.

"So your name is Skeet huh?"

As the young Changeling heard the Mare pony speak to him, it was in that moment that it finally clicked to him. He quickly wiggled his tiny body out from more of the cover ball and looked down at his hooves to find that they were still the same dark shade of red as his Pegasus colt disguise.

This caused a look of confusion to form on the youngling's face. It normally took something truly significant to bring a Changeling out of their alternate form and while sleeping didn't normally bring down the veil something 'impactful' could do the trick but for some reason he was still within his disguised…..did the queen provide something of a backup spell just in case the worse should happened or was it the result of something else?

"Hello?"

"wwaauuuh…" Skeet lightly groaned in protest as he felt a hoof rubbing the top of his head bringing him out of his stupor. He looked up to see the adult pony now standing over him with a look of amusement and a hint of curiosity. "huh?"

"Heh heh heh, aren't you a cute one. I was just making sure that your name was Skeet."

The now confirmed red Pegasus blinked for a few moments. For a moment there he really did forgot that was the named he used while undercover. He found himself moving his head up and down in a 'yes' motion. The truth was he wasn't entirely sure if he should trust himself enough to speak yet.

Of Couse with that thought lingering on the female pony still took the liberty of rubbing his dark mane with her hoof again must to his ser grin.

"Well please to meet your acquaintance Skeet. My name is Apple Jack and we here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do love making new friends."

About the only thing that Skeet herd out of the entire introduction was the Mare's name for the rest of it was pretty much drowned out by his own groans and cries that was a result of Apple Jack constant messing and teasing of the little one's mane.

It took a few moments for Skeet to finally recover from the introduction attack, but one good thing that comes of it was the fact that the Pony who calls herself Apple Jack manage to shake him out of the blanket ball that he was half trapped in. As the Changeling turned Pony was finally getting to his hooves it seemed that something clicked within the back of his mind.

"Apple Jack…as in Apple Bloom's big sister?" Skeet looked at the new pony he just met and watched as the smile she was already given became bigger.

"That is right!" Apple Jack said with a slight chuckle. "Oh, and forgive her and the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Sometimes they can get a bit carried away with their ideas."

Skeet's eyes narrowed as he herd the latter part of Apple Jack's part of the conversation. The whole thing was suddenly coming back to him. Being in the Orchard, The Crusaders Slingshot, and having his first close encounter with the element of the earth that was called wood. But, the image that lingered with him the most was all three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders all smiling at him as they denied his pleas for them to reconsider using him as a pony pellet.

…..a BIT carried away?

"That's an understatement…." Skeet said in a mock understanding voice followed by rolling his brown eyes, but his attention went back to the adult pony who was chuckling over his reply.

"Yeah I know what you mean." Apple Jack said with the aura of amusement still upon her. "Anyway, take as much time as you need to getting yourself together and afterwards we hope you will come down and join us for brunch, I made some of my special Apple Fritters, guaranteed to cure whatever else ales you."

"Uh…" Skeet calmly raised a hoof wanting to get a word in but Apple Jack was having none of it.

"Alright see you downstairs."

With those last words Apple Jack left the room leaving Skeet wondering 'What exactly just happened?' written all over his face. "Apple Fritters?"

The youngling sat back down a thought for a moment. He has never heard of anything in this world that would be called 'Apple Fritters'. He remembered Apple Bloom talking to him earlier about Apples…..maybe that is what those fritters were just some kind of dish that was made out of Apples.

"Blech!" Skeet stuck out his tongue in a gross out fashion as he remembered seeing the apples hanging from the trees. Apples are that 'wood food' that ponies like to eat. He just couldn't understand it. How could anything that came from wood even be edible let alone something that was in the primary diet of ANY living creature saved for bugs and worms?

The worst part was that this Apple Jack was going to offer some of that Pony wood food to him. He didn't think it was possible but he almost rather be back in the Crusader Slingshot for a second time. Infiltration is just hard work.

"Oh man…." Skeet spoke with a sigh. He knew there was no one else in the room and he was quite thankful for that but for the moment he just felt that he needed to say anything. He plops his small body back on the floor and sighed again. Everything just seemed so crazy that he felt he should take this little time to collect himself.

Even though his body was recovering and he just barley came out of his state of unconsciousness, his mind was still trying to piece together what lead to him being in this situation. Ever sense he opened his big fat mouth in the hive. It has been nothing but a roller coaster ride and not particularly the good kind either.

Now that things were calmed down he needed to think of exactly how he got up to this point. He couldn't help but feel that he was missing something…..something really really REALLY important.

He found a settlement where the three different types of ponies thrived.

He managed to subdue…..befriend one of the inhalants

Met some more ponies who turned out to be a radical group of passionate dare-devils

Got caught up in one of their plans and ended up becoming one with the three

Woke up in a pony room cared for and nursed back to health…..

Skeet lowered his head a bit; a mixture of frustration and confusion overtook him. On one hand he was frustrated that he was taken care of by ponies, the very creatures who turned out to be his enemy…his food. He was the one who was supposed to be the superior one not them…..but on the other hand, they actually took the time to pick up his injured body and took him in and placed him with care into one of their beds so that he could recover.

…..just what does one do with something like that?...

The Ponies actually took care of him while he was indisposed. The very beings who were supposed to be his enemy actually helped him in his time of need. The fact of the matter was that, they helped him. Does that mean that he owed them?

"No!" Skeet quickly shook his head, rejecting the notion. Of course he didn't owe them because it was THEY who put him into that unconscious state in the first place. But, still….he still needed consider that while he was a victim of the Cutie Mark Crusader's planning the fact was that even with the three of them working together they never could have carried his body over to this room.

"Oh man…I just don't know…." Skeet found himself giving off a sigh that was fueled with frustration. He hated thinking about details like this, everything was so simple and clear before. The mission was solid: 'Infiltrate and find useful information that could be used against these Ponies.'…now look at him...what would Queen Chrysalis say or worst yet do if she saw him like this. "Oh….Crap…."

Skeet suddenly found himself the recipient of a wave of fear and despair that was so overwhelming he could barely contain it. Amongst his little adventures not to mention his state of unconsciousness he forgot to send his first report back to the hive. He must have been out cold for ATLEAST overnight and he planned to send in his first progress report that evening. .

There was truly no more time to waste. He quickly stood up and moved away from the comfort of the blanked. He quickly moved towards the door and peaked out into the hallway to make sure that there was no one around. With the coast cleared he closed the door again and went back to the center of the room.

He closed his eyes and began to concentrate on the progress of transforming back into his true form. After all a Changeling is mostly limited to the form he or she takes and with him being in a Pegasus form he couldn't work magic and the spell that he was 'gifted' by his queen was clearly magic based.

"grrrrrr." With vain effort Skeet found himself struggling to change back into his Changeling form. It actually got to the point where he actually had to stop and take a rest before he over exerted himself. "What is going on?"

Skeet looked down at his still Pegasus body completely dumb founded. He never was really that good with magic...or rather with the exception of the trademark spell of disguise he didn't know any magic at all yet; even the spell to contact Queen Chrysalis was bestowed upon him by her. Heck even with the Changeling's spell of transformation it took a bit of effort to execute properly but he NEVER had this much trouble with it before.

"Come on…..You can do it." Skeet growled as he gave himself the words of encouragement. This report needed to be sent and it needed to be sent yesterday….LITERALLY. With greater effort the young boy was finally able to make some progress with the task at hand. It got to the point where he was literally panting trying to get some air into his tiny little body but he finally was able bring about his true form.

"What the..."

….or perhaps not.

Skeet felt looked down at his front hooves and found himself staring into a sight that truly startled him. He sat down and raised them closer to his face and he noticed that there were no holes in his legs. He looked around at his body and he found there was no holes in his hind legs either or in fact ANYWHERE on his body. This just didn't make any semblance of sense to the youngling.

The color of his body was the appropriate jet black. He stretched and flapped his wings a few times to make sure they were the appropriate large insect like wings and they were. He even ran his tongue along his now two exposed protruding fangs. Even his now exposed horn rested on top of his head where it should be. Everything checked out and he honestly could tell that he now 'felt' like a changeling at least for the most part. So why didn't he have any holes? Why was his body now lacking one of the signature features of his whole race?

The young Changeling quickly shook his head removing the thoughts that were swimming inside. There was no time to think about that now, he was overdue on his report and he needed to send his report before he became the recipient of fresh new holes on places where they WEREN'T supposed to go.

Skeet closed his eyes and began to concentrate, this time on the magic that his Queen placed within him. On cue the green energy began to form around his tiny horn. Within moments what seemed to be a floating emerald parchment formed before the young one then a green magic quill right along with it. Fueled by the thoughts and will of the Changeling the quill began moving in midair and began writing down the report.

(**** See Below)

After the report was finished the quill disappeared and the parchment neatly rolled it's self up before shrinking into what seemed to be a magic ball before moving through the walls of the room and launched it's self into the air with the intent of carrying it's words back to the Changeling Hive.

Once the report was lunched Skeet finally reopened his eyes and found himself panting. The little one was actually surprise of just how much effort it took to make and send the message, but that was alright. The fact remains that his first report was sent and now that the first part of his plan was complete, he could now focus on the next phase of his GRAND MASTER plan.

"Hum…." Skeet's eyes went back on his now completely solid front hooves. He wondered how he should take this new development. All he could hope was it was just some kind of glitch or something brought on of being in disguise for so long or when he hit the tree and was out cold for a while….surely that must have been it. "No sense on worrying about it now…"

While the whole thing did cause Skeet to be a bit worried in the end it was just a minor thing. He needed to get down stairs before the ponies grew suspicious and come back in the room to check on him. He once again closed his emerald orbs and prepared to give off the usual effort it took for him to form his disguise and within a few moments the signature green magic formed and engulfed him causing the transformation.

"huh?" Skeet blinked as he looked down to find himself back in his Red Pegasus form but what caused the hint of confusion in the now disguise Changeling's voice wasn't the fact that it took so long or that it took a greater amount of effort to transform….no, it was the fact that the transformation it's self was almost instantaneous and on top of everything else it was done with relative ease.

Now that he actually thought about it. There was really no real effort involved when he put back on his 'mask' as it were. This didn't make any sense, he was still young and while he was never afraid to toot his own horn, even HE knew that he was still a WAYS off from being a master of the Changeling's signature transformation magic. But, why was it that when it came to revealing his true form it down right half killed him but when it came to putting on the form of one of those little ponies there was little actual efforts.

"Just a glitch that's all….a simple glitch." Skeet spoke into the room trying to give himself the answer to the question. After all he just came back from going a million miles an hours and ran smack dab into a tree. It was just a side of effect of recovery nothing more of course there was no record in Changeling history that he could recall that had such side effects even from great body trauma but there had to be a first for everything right? "That is exactly it, no real cause from alarm."

He got back on all fours and flapped his now feathered wings to make sure everything about his pony disguise was in order. He gathered the sheets and placed them back on the bed….he didn't quite know how to make a bed proper but he figured since the ponies took care of him and placed him on the bed to recover, he could at least plopped them back on the bed instead of leaving them on the floor.

He moved throughout the house and after a couple of unexpected detours he finally found his way downstairs into the kitchen. He was a little bit surprised that he didn't see anyone else around; perhaps they were outside or something.

"HOWDY! SKEET!"

"AAAAA!" Skeet quickly jumped back a few feet with the help of his wings to make the distance that just using his hooves would allow otherwise. After his heart finally stopped racing he looked own to see the oh so familiar earth pony member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "….Apple Bloom…."

"Yep, Thanks me." Apple Bloom spoke with her usual pep and vigor. "Hey sorry about the whole slingshot thing earlier, Scootaloo didn't think it was going to be like that."

Skeet looked at Apple Bloom in a true look of disbelief. Just what exactly did Scootaloo except to happen? For him land against the tree with grace? For the apples to come down with rainbows falling behind them and he would stand underneath the tree completely unscathed? "….uh…..huh…."

"Oh come on." Apple Bloom said cheerfully while playfully nudging him. "You got admit you did have fun."

The Red colt gave the young sister of Apple Jack a look of shock which was followed by a sigh. "Oh yeah it was fun. In fact it was so much fun I could just throw up."

"Oh Skeet, you are a hoot." Apple Bloom giggled.

Skeet gave a sigh of defeat. It was obvious that he wasn't even going to receive an apology over what just happened so there was no point in expecting one. Not that it mattered in the long run anyhow. He looked around the house a bit with a slight hint of curiosity on his face. "So, where is your sister and didn't you mention that you had an older brother and grandma?"

"Oh Right." Skeet watched as Apple Bloom perked up a bit. "Well Big Macintosh is out gathering and moving hey. Granny Smith went to do a little shopping, and Apple Jack said that she was going on ahead."

The last part caused the red Pegasus's curiosity to grow a little bit. "Went on ahead?"

"Right." Apple Bloom began as she cleared her throat. "Well today we are having a little picnic get together with friends. After Apple Jack came back from checking on you, we waited a little bit for you to come down. We were going to invite you earlier but you took your time coming down and seeing how we were already a bit late for the picnic Apple Jack decided to go on ahead leaving me in charged to inform you AND invite you."

Skeet gave the young Filly a look of disbelief as she stood proud over the fact that she waited for him. It was like she won a 'good deed of the week' away or something. But he quickly recovered and searched his mind wondering about the invitation. On one hand it was another opportunity to meet new ponies but on the other hand he was pretty sure they were going to serve some of those apples….ugh that wood food. "Uh, so, others are going to be there?"

"Yep, the rest of the Crusaders will be there as well as Apple Jack's friends. It is going to be great. Besides after what happens yesterday, everyone has been wondering about you, hoping that you are ok."

As the young colt listened to Apple Bloom a shiver couldn't help but run down his spine when she mention that the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders were going to be there. That combined with the wood food wasn't all that much of a reason for Skeet to want to go after all there HAD to be other and less painful ways to meet other Ponies in this town. "Ah…you know….it all sounds really fun and all but I-"

"…but don't you want to come for Brunch?"

Skeet suddenly found himself in a defensive stands as he was suddenly bombarded by the overwhelmingly cute sadden face of Apple Bloom. He couldn't believe just how transparent he must have been because he was suddenly attacked by weapon of adorable destruction.

He tried to fight with every fiber of his being….which was about two seconds and found that his heart once again melted under the power of Apple Bloom's please of cuteness. He has fell for this move multiple times and this was truly no different. "I…ok…"

"GREAT!"

"EEP! Skeet squeaked as Apple Bloom quickly brought back her cheerful disposition.

"Let's GO! Everyone will be thrilled to meet ya!"

As the helpless Skeet was being dragged out the front door by the spunky little earth pony he hopped that things were going to get better. After all, He was slingshot into a tree yesterday. Surely the worst is behind him right?

….right?...

* * *

Well there you have it. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you all enjoyed it.

Stay tuned. Next time: Skeet meets the rest of the main six.

***: This is a note to let you know that the let part isn't really a chapter but the actual note that Skeet sent to the Queen of the Changelings. The thing is that I didn't know if I should have included in this chapter or not. I was worried if it was going to break the flow.

Well for those of you who wanted to know what was written it will be in it's own part. Coming up next! ^_^

Xul


	6. Skeet's Report 1

Well here it is, for those of you who were curious to find out what Skeet wrote down in his first report. Enjoy ^_^

Disclaimer: Once again I just own Skeet.

* * *

Dear Queen Chrysalis,

Your humble servant is proud to report that I have successfully infiltrated the ranks of the little ponies. I have found a small but prosperous settlement which they have named Ponyville. While there were some minor setbacks, it was truly nothing that I could not handle.

The ponies were quite easy to deceived, in fact, it was so easy that I even entertained the notion of just attacking one of the residents and interrogate him/her to gain the information that I require but out of mercy and pity I spared one of them the gruesome fate of what it would be like to be under the power for a MIGHTY Changeling. Not to mention, what fun would it be of just DOMINATING right away and getting all the answers.

Anyway, I trust that this report finds you well my Queen. Know that your promising and STRONGEST disciple is working tirelessly on this mission. Another report shall fall soon.

Your Faithful subject,

Skeet

P.S.: Oh did you know that Ponies eat things that grow from wood? They call them apples, I don't ever want to try one...BLECH!

P.P.S.: Skeet is a name that the ponies call me. I didn't pick it for myself at all…ever

P.P.P.S.: …..Don't tell anyone about the name please…..

* * *

Well there you have it. ^_^

Once again I removed the letter from the main installment because I felt it interrupted the flow of the chapter. If you all felt that it didn't please let me know and I will keep all future reports in the main chapters for now on.

Anyway hope you all enjoyed and I will see you next time.

Xul


	7. Meeting ponies is a good thing right?

Hello everyone

I am truly sorry that this update took so long; life does tend to get in the way. I also wasn't quite sure about this chapter and actually wrote several re-writes. I hope this final piece is to your liking.

Anyway, ON WITH THE STORY!

* * *

"Uh….So….This is where the picnic is located?"

Within the confines of a beautiful grassy plain the Pegasus disguised Changeling was sitting down surveying the sight with his young eyes. He must admit it was rather color, he found himself getting a similar feeling to what he had when he was back on sweet apple acres….well at least until he was the would be victim of that cursed contraption called the Crusader Slingshot.

The feeling was similar but different really, but it was rather odd to place for the young one. Back at the apple orchard there was growth, almost like a cycle. Here, there was like a harmony a peaceful stillness that just couldn't be placed into mere words; at least none that he young mind could think of. However, while he would have loved to take in the scenery there was something else that caught his attention, something that seems to bring a shiver down his spine.

"Yep, and there are the others over there." Apple Bloom cheerfully pointed with one of her front hooves.

Skeet was already looking into the direction that the young Earth pony mentioned. In fact, what his eyes caught was the reason he had that uneasy feeling. He saw rather familiar ponies, the other two members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders as well as Bloom's older sister Apple Jack but it was the extras that caused him to look on with caution…truth be told Applejack gave him a similar feeling but he didn't pay much attention to it until now….In fact they all gave him this uneasiness…..there was just something about their appearance….he remembered hearing about similar descriptions but where?

"OW!" Skeet found himself the recipient of a solid bonk on the head. He clutched his head with his hooves as he looked over at Apple Bloom who looks at him with a sweet yet concerned look on her face.

"You were drifting off there again Skeet."

"Um…you know you could have just given me a nudge or something." Skeet said with a slight hint of annoyance as he rubbed his noggin in an effect to make the pain stop.

"I know, but this was more fun and quicker."

Skeet blinked in confusion as he watches Apple Bloom trot off in the distance, but he raised an eyebrow when she stopped and looked back at him. Apparently she noticed that he wasn't following her towards the event.

"Well are you coming?"

"Huh?" It actually took Skeet a couple of moments before he finally realized that Apple Bloom was talking to him. "Oh right, yeah…coming."

Skeet finally began to move after Apple Bloom in a walking position. In truth he was no hurry to get there, not to mention the fact that the closer he got there, the more uneasy he felt. He remember hearing the stories of the Changelings' defeat at Canterlot and he almost remembered Several of the Adults mentioned how six particular ponies manage to defeat a good chuck of their forces…one pony he herd actually attack a few of them with party favors, something that Skeet found very amusing…at least at the time.

As the walk through Ponyville the disguised Changeling found himself sneaking quick glimpse over at Apple Bloom. He didn't know why but he felt he should be careful around her. Sure she manage to get the better of him with that lucky move over at the school yard but there just seems to be more to it than that. Everything in him that was Changeling said that he should be wary of her. Sure he got that feeling with all the ponies but with Apple Bloom there was something different.

"So…." Skeet in a rather futile attempt to calm his nerves, he began to see the picnic sight in the distance and the close he got the more he trembled. He wasn't sure he was ready to meet any more ponies right away. Heck, he got his tail handed to him by Apple Bloom: the first pony he officially met and later on she and the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders decided to best way to apple buck was to sling shot him into tree at what seemed to be a million miles an hour. Now, he was going to be MORE of them? "These other ponies...what are they like if I may ask."

"Oh, well…. "

"That is Strange….." Skeet chimed in, his face giving off a mask of confusion.

"What is?"

As they moved closer the red colt was seeing more and more similarities to what he heard from the adults report and what he was actually seeing. An indigo unicorn who's hairs show streaks of the various shades of violet. There was a bright yellow Pegasus with light pink hair…and there was a female pony pink wearing a party hat. She was on her hind legs dancing and singing….and if he didn't know any better he swore he could hear something. "Is…that music?"

Apple Bloom sighed calmly as she realized Skeet's confusion. "Oh yeah, it is one of the things you get used to, trust me."

The young Pegasus stopped for a moment to actually listen to make sure he wasn't just hearing things. His new 'friend might said that it was something you get use too but that didn't make him any less curious. After a few moments he found that it was true, he was actually hearing music… but, it made no sense, there was nothing to show that a music playing device was present anywhere. Perhaps he was overthinking it, after all he hasn't officially arrived at the picnic yet so the music was sure to be explained there but there the others that was present but there was something else that was bothering him.

~Hum, This has to be a coincidence….there is just no way.~ Skeet thought to himself as he continued looking on at the picnic and it's resident at a distance. The descriptions he heard from the adults were getting more and more similar as he watched on. These couldn't be the same six that tried to counter attack their efforts. Esquistra was a huge place after all, what are the odds?

"Skeet HEADS UP!"

"Well the…BRUHWAHAA!" The crimson pony found himself tumbling and skidding across the grass. He really wasn't sure what hit him. One moment he was gathering his thoughts in order to answer Apple Bloom and next he was hit on what could only be described as a pink blur. Now his reality was nothing more than a clash of colors and light, unable to control the direction his body moved….not that he could anyway for whatever clashed into him was also clinging to him and was clearly in control of the situation. All he could do was just wait for this little nightmare to end.

Skeet found himself lying on his back, his body still tense and his eyes tightly shut. It seemed whatever hit him was a pony and the unexpected right was over but everything that was everything about him told the young Pegasus to keep bracing himself and keep his eyes shut at all cost. He really didn't know why but his mental alarm was going overdrive. This was true torment his brain was telling him to not do anything and maybe it will go away but his youth fuelled curiosity was telling him to see who or WHAT it was.

Despite his better judgment he slowly opened his eyes to see who was standing over him. He was many things but he was no coward and he was confident that whoever it was he would be able to handle the situation.

"HHHHHHHHEEEEEEELLLLLOOOOOOOO NEW FRIEND!"

The red colt's eyes opened to see the improbable large grinning face of a female earth pony. This was it….It was over. The ponies knew about his infiltration all of this time. They knew he was a spy sent to discover their weaknesses. They played along waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike with their ultimate weapon. All he could do was to recoil in terror completely under the mercy of this living pink torpedo.

" ' 'tevenbegintotellyouwhatareli efitistoseewellImeanyoureall ylookworseforwelltheresoitis agoodthingwemanagetotakecare ofyouintimeOHbytheway…."

Skeet was curled up into a ball of despair. He had absolutely no idea what was happening or how to make it stop. The Pink Pony Torpedo wasn't content just striking its prey this was the TRUE killing blow. It was just incredible….this pony with an aura of cheerful innocent…. there was just so much feeling…so much positive feeling that it couldn't…no SHOULDN"T be focus on one person. It was all so overwhelmingly powerful this aura of friendship and love…..adult Changelings couldn't handle this much energy let alone a child.

"And that's what happened all day yesterday…." The pink mare suddenly perked again as she gave the most disturbing innocent grin that Skeet has ever encountered. "Would you like to know what happened today before you arrived?"

The Crimson colt's eyes suddenly became wide as dinner plates when the Pink pony asks the question that would have changed his real colors white. With the combination of adrenaline and desperation consuming him the young boy screamed to the heavens as he manages to pry energetic mare off of him. Standing on just his hind legs with his front hooves in the air he was still crying out to the heavens. "Nnnnnoooooo no more! I surrender I SURRENDER!"

"Uh…..Skeet…."

Skeet finally opened his eyes as he herd the familiar voice of the young filly Apple Bloom. His orbs scanned the area to find that he was now the center of attention. He quickly got back on all fours again and lowered his head so that he would face the ground. His cheeks were now a bright shade of red from the Embarrassment. He was literally two seconds away from bolting towards any location that wasn't this picnic. "Oh…uh"

"Uhhh...Pinky Pie, Remember that the young boy is still recovering…that might not have been the best approach to say hi."

Skeet's young eyes slowly rose from the ground to place a face to the owner of the calm voice speaking on his behalf. His attention focused on the pony that was the color of lavender with a mane that only could be described as indigo with streaks of pink and purple. He wasn't quite sure what to make of her…she seemed harmless enough but she could be like that crazy pink pony just taking a bit more time so that his guard down.

The truth was that the pink attack was kind of a wakeup call. He didn't know why but was slipping and was getting a bit too relaxed around Apple Bloom, well…now that he had a firsthand taste of pony brutality he wasn't going to let his guard down any time soon.

"Okie Doky Twilight. He is off the hook…for now…."

Skeet suddenly grew pale as the pink pony was suddenly upon him again looking at him with a magnifying glass. The young Changeling could feel shivers going down his spine, his heart racing, almost paralyzed with fear as the possibility that this mare knew who he truly was. Who was she…and now that he thought about it he wondering where that magnifying glass game from. Was this it? "…fo….for now?"

"For now…BACK TO PARTYING!"

Over the latest outburst the red Pegasus was bracing himself for another attack but instead surprise griped him when he saw the energetic mare do backflips away. With that, he found himself exhaling and collapsing back on the ground. He just didn't know what to make of all of this….one moment he was peacefully walking through a grassy plain the next he was being attack by a pink super weapon….and the energy,…. all of that energy that pink mare was giving off, it was all so overwhelming, He never felt so full and miserable in his life. The fact is that She could single handedly feed the entire Changeling population for a hundred years.

Right now he needed to regain himself. When he began this little assignment he had no idea that it would be so dangerous. Now that he actually thought about it, there hasn't been one thing to go right for him…at least not in the purest sense. It seemed that whatever progress he made there was always some kind of price to go with it.

"Um…..Skeet was it?"

Skeet gave a tiny whimper in reply. He figured it was low enough so that whoever was addressing him wouldn't notice but if they did then he didn't care. He didn't quite recognize the voice that was addressing him but that was ok. He was still recovering from becoming one with the wood, right now he wanted to go back into the soft comfort known as the bed once again.

"Sorry about Pinky Pie, She can get a bit carried away with introductions, but she often means well."

Skeet's eyes slowly rose from the ground and scan the pony that was addressing him. To his curiosity it was the Indigo colored one. She didn't seem as crazy as her friend but he has been deceived before, he was going to have to proceed with caution.

"Oh yeah?" Skeet began in a weak but calm voice. As he rose to stand on his hooves he could hear some giggling and acknowledgement in the background. It seemed that that was the basis of a private joke that everyone was in on except him. "She wouldn't happen to come with subtitles would she?"

"I heard that…"

A wave of fear and dread fell over the young cold as he suddenly herd that oh so familiar voice of the pink one. He quickly turned around to see the one called Pinky Pike standing on her hind legs with her front hooves crossed over her chest looking down at the red Pegasus like a Warden to an inmate. Her blue eyes seem too pierced right through the young boy.

"NOW YOU GONE AND DONE IT! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A PONY TALKS ABOUT ME LIKE THAT, DURING A PINIC, THREE MINUTES AFTER NOON ON THIS DAY OF THE YEAR?!"

"Um Pinkie…don't ya think that…"

"OH NO Apple Jack. HE WON"T GET OFF THAT EASY! IT IS TIME TO PAY THE PINK PIPER!"

"Uh bwu hg wh….." Poor Skeet couldn't force out a coherent word out of his mouth. He was slumped down and walked backwards trying to avoid the Titanic stomping of Pinkie Pie. All he could do was move back and look around the area his eyes pleading in vain for help from the others only to get sadden looks by the other ponies, which caused the wave of fear to only intensify. Under the mighty gaze of the pink one all he could do was tremble in fear. He couldn't figure what he had done wrong. It was just a simple comment, did he truly deserve the fate that was about to befall him.

"AND NOW…..PREPARE FOR…"

Skeet raised his front hooves in a defense position, sweat dripping from his entire body, his mind racing at a million miles an hour, his voice crying out to the heavens as he was certain that this was the end.

"The Pink Huggles of Friendship!"

"Huh?!" The overwhelming fear that consumed Skeet was now replaced with Surprise as he was suddenly scooped up into the arms of Pinkie Pie who proceeded to hug and cuddle him. While he would be quite to admit that the gesture itself wasn't half bad….it was actually quite pleasant. But the fact was that Skeet was still recovering from being the test subject of the Crusader Slingshot and then in the span of ten minutes he has become the victim of a physical, emotional, and energy bombardment thanks to the pink one the likes of which even his Queen Chrysalis couldn't hope to recover from. He was just limp within the pink mare's embrace

"Uh…I think you broke him Pinkie Pie…."

"Aww

Skeet could feel himself slipping away. Even he wasn't a youngling he knew his body wouldn't be able process all of this. His young body and mind just couldn't take so much at one time or perhaps any time. The fact that he was still injured didn't help matters either. Against his will he was being force to do the one thing anyone would do in his position…Faint.

Maybe, just maybe things would calm down after a nap. Things sure couldn't get worse right?

….please?...

* * *

Well there you all have it. I am sorry this chapter is shorter than the earlier ones. I will try to do better next time. I hope I manage to capture at least the spirit of Pinkie Pie. I am really nervous about that.

Anyway hope you all enjoy the chapter. See you next time!

Xul


End file.
